【明報專訊】Robots are able to make delicate actions and imitate human activities. Yet, much must be done before they can look completely like humans. One problem is that they have difficulty adjusting the force they apply when they grasp objects of different textures.
Two American research teams have recently made important progress in producing artificial skin. American-born Chinese scientist Bao Zhenan (鮑哲南) and her colleagues have developed a tactile sensor that allows artificial skin to respond instantly to sensory input as delicate as that of a butterfly touch.
Ali Javey, an electronic engineer of the University of California, Berkeley, used nanotechnology (納米科技) to produce an artificial skin that can adjust the force being applied to the object being held.
It is widely agreed that the two new inventions represent a breakthrough in robot development.
■Keywords
nanotechnology……納米科技
science……科學
■Questions
1. What are the two new advancements in artificial skin development?
2. Why do they represent an important breakthrough?
3. Robots do many daily routines. What do you think scientists aimed at when they started developing robots?
■Further readings
BBC. "Sensitive touch for 'robot skin'", 2010.09.13
