Biomed – Sensitive skin

People with tomorrow’s prosthetic hands and arms will be able to feel heat, cold and touch through a series of developments by researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and NASA. Two different ORNL research groups, Ilia Ivanov and Dave Geohegan of the lab’s Nanomaterials Synthesis and Properties Group, and John Simpson of the superhydrophobic materials group, are combining superhydrophobic material with thin layers of carbon nanotubes to mimic skin’s properties. This artificial skin, dubbed FILMskin, combined with advanced sensors being developed by researchers at NASA will provide unprecedented utility to prosthetic wearers.