It is possible to use a smart finger to detect substances with more than 90 percent accuracy.
Alex Wilkins is a writer.
One day there will be sensors that can identify what they touch.
There is a website called rawpixel.com.
An artificial finger can identify materials with high accuracy. The technology can be used to automate manufacturing tasks.
Touch sensors that can gain information about surfaces, such as pressure or temperature, aren't new, but sensors that can recognise the type and thickness of surfaces are less common.
Dan Luo and his colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a finger that can identify what a material is made from by using a "triboelectric" sensor to test its ability to gain or lose electrons.
The finger achieved an average accuracy of 96.8% and at least 90 per cent accuracy for all of the materials when tested on hundreds of samples.
There are four small square sensors made of different plastic that are chosen for their electrical properties. The electrons from each square interact with the surface in a slightly different way when the sensors are close to it.
The name of the detected material type is displayed on an organicLED screen, which is attached to a processor and housed in a finger-like case. The processor can be connected to a manufacturing control mechanism. In terms of composition and surface structure, smart fingers could be used. Industrial material sorting could be helped by our system.
According to Ben Ward-Cherrier at the University of Bristol, the sensor's ability to differentiate between materials could make it a good choice for quality control in manufacturing. It would be more effective with other sensors that can detect things such as edges.
It is not likely that the device would be useful for artificial limbs, according to the University of Cambridge. This level of sophistication is not needed for technology that is human controlled. Imagine you reach for a cup of coffee, you are an amputee. You have a lot of life experience, and online experience with your hand, to have a good estimate of the material that you are about to reach.
Science Advances was published in the journal.
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