How far are we from the future?

All the people in the world have experienced some or the other changes this year. Clearly 2020 has not been the most comfortable year but people have made peace with the sudden shift in their lives. It won’t be an exaggeration to say that the lockdown has brought immense difficulty for the people to innovate and access resources. But still the world needs to fight back and establish a greater use of people’s intellect. With the news around about a newer and better robotic kitchen that would be able to make food in the exact precision and foldable smartphones, here comes another news that struck our minds. 

Researchers and academicians of RMIT University, Australia have made the first prototype of an electronic skin that could feel the pain of real skin. The prototype would replicate human nerves with electronic signals to trigger an immediate reaction. What do you think makes this research a greater initiative for human good? 

Its possibility to build better prosthetics and a good resource for the biomedical industry and robotics. Their lead researcher Professor Madhu Bhaskaran said ‘our artificial skin reacts instantly when pressure, heat or cold reach a painful threshold…. It is a critical step forward in the future development of sophisticated feedback systems that we need to deliver truly smart prosthetics and intelligent robots.’ 

The electronic skin is made from graphene which is just one atom thin and very strong. It is highly sensitive and could be used in order to make prosthetics or skin sensitive robots. Details of the skin substitute have been already published in the journal Advanced Intelligent Systems. All of this makes us wonder, are we really here? In the future? Maybe we are on a path to the days that’ll last long. 

[REF] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8685971/Electronic-SKIN-reacts-pain-like-human-organ.html