Nanowire Sensors Key to Prosthetics, Robotics

Nanowire Sensors Key to Prosthetics, Robotics
North Carolina State Univ. researchers have used silver nanowires to develop wearable, multifunctional sensors that could be used in biomedical, military or athletic applications, including new prosthetics, robotic systems and flexible touch panels. The sensors can measure strain, pressure, human touch and bioelectronic signals such as electrocardiograms.

“The technology is based on either physical deformation or ‘fringing’ electric field changes. The latter is very similar to the mechanism used in smartphone touch screens, but the sensors we’ve developed are stretchable and can be mounted on a variety of curvilinear surfaces such as human skin,” says Shanshan Yao, a Ph.D. student at NC State and lead author of a paper on the work.

Source:
http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wms-zhu-silversensor2014/
Photo: A sensor based on silver nanowires is mounted onto a thumb joint to monitor the skin strain associated with thumb flexing. The sensor shows good wearability and large-strain sensing capability. Photo credit: Shanshan Yao.