Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Emerging Tech
  3. News

Artificial skin gives haptic feedback, could let you feel VR

By
The skin’s system of soft sensors and actuators enables the artificial skin to conform to the exact shape of a wearer’s wrist. EPFL

We’ve become accustomed to haptic feedback being a part of our interactions with our smartphones and other devices. Our sense of touch is a big part of the way that we interact with our environment, and small inputs can convey a lot of information. However, as anyone who has tried out haptic feedback VR tools can attest, bringing a sense of touch into interactions is key to making them feel immersive.

Now, researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have come up with a flexible artificial skin which can provide haptic feedback and could be used for everything from VR to medical rehabilitation. The skin is made of silicone and electrodes, and it can conform to shapes such as wrapping around a fingertip or wrist to provide feedback in the form of pressure or vibration.

Recommended Videos

The skin has sensors embedded within it that can detect deformations so that the feedback can be adjusted in response to movements, making it more useable and giving more realistic feedback. “This is the first time we have developed an entirely soft artificial skin where both sensors and actuators are integrated,” Harshal Sonar, researcher at EPFL and the lead author of the study, said in a statement. “This gives us closed-loop control, which means we can accurately and reliably modulate the vibratory stimulation felt by the user. This is ideal for wearable applications, such as for testing a patient’s proprioception in medical applications.”

Artificial skin could help rehabilitation and enhance virtual reality

The artificial skin is stretchable as well as flexible and can be stretched up to four times its original length. That means it should be able to withstand the rigors of daily movements, so it could be developed into a tool for patients who have lost their sense of touch. It could also be used to create highly immersive VR experiences.

Related

“The next step will be to develop a fully wearable prototype for applications in rehabilitation and virtual and augmented reality,” Sonar said. “The prototype will also be tested in neuroscientific studies, where it can be used to stimulate the human body while researchers study dynamic brain activity in magnetic resonance experiments.”

The research is published in the journal Soft Robotics.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
Juiced Bikes offers 20% off on all e-bikes amid signs of bankruptcy
Juiced Bikes Scrambler ebike

A “20% off sitewide” banner on top of a company’s website should normally be cause for glee among customers. Except if you’re a fan of that company’s products and its executives remain silent amid mounting signs that said company might be on the brink of bankruptcy.That’s what’s happening with Juiced Bikes, the San Diego-based maker of e-bikes.According to numerous customer reports, Juiced Bikes has completely stopped responding to customer inquiries for some time, while its website is out of stock on all products. There are also numerous testimonies of layoffs at the company.Even more worrying signs are also piling up: The company’s assets, including its existing inventory of products, is appearing as listed for sale on an auction website used by companies that go out of business.In addition, a court case has been filed in New York against parent company Juiced Inc. and Juiced Bike founder Tora Harris, according to Trellis, a state trial court legal research platform.Founded in 2009 by Harris, a U.S. high-jump Olympian, Juiced Bikes was one of the early pioneers of the direct-to-consumer e-bike brands in the U.S. market.The company’s e-bikes developed a loyal fandom through the years. Last year, Digital Trends named the Juiced Bikes Scorpion X2 as the best moped-style e-bike for 2023, citing its versatility, rich feature set, and performance.The company has so far stayed silent amid all the reports. But should its bankruptcy be confirmed, it could legitimately be attributed to the post-pandemic whiplash experienced by the e-bike industry over the past few years. The Covid-19 pandemic had led to a huge spike in demand for e-bikes just as supply chains became heavily constrained. This led to a ramp-up of e-bike production to match the high demand. But when consumer demand dropped after the pandemic, e-bike makers were left with large stock surpluses.The good news is that the downturn phase might soon be over just as the industry is experiencing a wave of mergers and acquisitions, according to a report by Houlihan Lokey.This may mean that even if Juiced Bikes is indeed going under, the brand and its products might find a buyer and show up again on streets and trails.

Read more
Volkswagen plans 8 new affordable EVs by 2027, report says
volkswagen affordable evs 2027 id 2all

Back in the early 1970s, when soaring oil prices stifled consumer demand for gas-powered vehicles, Volkswagen took a bet on a battery system that would power its first-ever electric concept vehicle, the Elektro Bus.
Now that the German automaker is facing a huge slump in sales in Europe and China, it’s again turning to affordable electric vehicles to save the day.Volkswagen brand chief Thomas Schaefer told German media that the company plans to bring eight new affordable EVs to market by 2027."We have to produce our vehicles profitably and put them on the road at affordable prices," he is quoted as saying.
One of the models will be the ID.2all hatchback, the development of which is currently being expedited to 36 months from its previous 50-month schedule. Last year, VW unveiled the ID.2all concept, promising to give it a price tag of under 25,000 euros ($27,000) for its planned release in 2025.VW CEO Larry Blume has also hinted at a sub-$22,000 EV to be released after 2025.It’s unclear which models would reach U.S. shores. Last year, VW America said it planned to release an under-$35,000 EV in the U.S. by 2027.The price of batteries is one of the main hurdles to reduced EV’s production costs and lower sale prices. VW is developing its own unified battery cell in several European plants, as well as one plant in Ontario, Canada.But in order for would-be U.S. buyers to obtain the Inflation Reduction Act's $7,500 tax credit on the purchase of an EV, the vehicle and its components, including the battery, must be produced at least in part domestically.VW already has a plant in Chattanooga, Tennesse, and is planning a new plant in South Carolina. But it’s unclear whether its new unified battery cells would be built or assembled there.

Read more
Nissan launches charging network, gives Ariya access to Tesla SuperChargers
nissan charging ariya superchargers at station

Nissan just launched a charging network that gives owners of its EVs access to 90,000 charging stations on the Electrify America, Shell Recharge, ChargePoint and EVgo networks, all via the MyNissan app.It doesn’t stop there: Later this year, Nissan Ariya vehicles will be getting a North American Charging Standard (NACS) adapter, also known as the Tesla plug. And in 2025, Nissan will be offering electric vehicles (EVs) with a NACS port, giving access to Tesla’s SuperCharger network in the U.S. and Canada.Starting in November, Nissan EV drivers can use their MyNissan app to find charging stations, see charger availability in real time, and pay for charging with a payment method set up in the app.The Nissan Leaf, however, won’t have access to the functionality since the EV’s charging connector is not compatible. Leaf owners can still find charging stations through the NissanConnectEV and Services app.Meanwhile, the Nissan Ariya, and most EVs sold in the U.S., have a Combined Charging System Combo 1 (CCS1) port, which allows access to the Tesla SuperCharger network via an adapter.Nissan is joining the ever-growing list of automakers to adopt NACS. With adapters, EVs made by General Motors, Ford, Rivian, Honda and Volvo can already access the SuperCharger network. Kia, Hyundai, Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, and Jaguar have also signed agreements to allow access in 2025.
Nissan has not revealed whether the adapter for the Ariya will be free or come at a cost. Some companies, such as Ford, Rivian and Kia, have provided adapters for free.
With its new Nissan Energy Charge Network and access to NACS, Nissan is pretty much covering all the bases for its EV drivers in need of charging up. ChargePoint has the largest EV charging network in the U.S., with over 38,500 stations and 70,000 charging ports at the end of July. Tesla's charging network is the second largest, though not all of its charging stations are part of the SuperCharger network.

Read more