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Imagine a robot, which can sense the touch just like us. Japanese researchers have proposed an idea to use stretchy circuits made from rubber and nanotubes to create an “e-skin”, which will be flexible enough to completely cover a robot without limiting its movement.

Takao Someya of the University of Tokyo has already developed a rubbery conductor that can be stretched by 38 per cent without any drop in its conductivity.

He said - “Without human skin-like sensitivity, robots cannot be used in everyday life. Imagine the danger if a robot did not recognise when it had accidentally bumped into a young child.”

The novel technique allows the researchers to add more nanotubes without fear that a high density of them would form lumps.  The final material is around 20 per cent nanotubes by weight, and current flows through it by hopping from nanotube to nanotube.

Someya believes that the nanotube-based conductor is likely to be more physically robust, which could be used in applications like e-skin.

The robotic technology is improving by the day, and one day we shall witness a robot much like a normal human being. The day is not so far away.