Lively Robots Under Construction At University Of Ottawa

Interacting with humans and living beings are always a pleasant experience. Now we are on the verge of having similar interaction with robots too. At the research lab of University of Ottawa in Canada, scientists are working to give a more humane touch to their robot, which means the mechanical parts of the robots are being replaced with human like spares designed by the team.

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The team of scientists led by Emil Petriu are replacing the hands and face of the robots with materials which would resemble human skin and would also be able to depict human facial expressions. The material used for making the skin is elastic silicon which are embedded with various sensors for relaying back information like touch, temperature and kind of object surfaces on which the robot is working on.

The researchers are developing mechanical and electronic sensors to embed them in the arms of the robot to gather the information through touch on the sensitive skin. For making the skin more like humans, hot water is circulated underneath the skin so that it gives a warm feeling upon physical contact. They are also using actuators, which are motorised artificial muscles, to replicate the movement of human muscles on the face of the robot which has been replaced by a modular human skull.

This kind of robot can be used in for personal care purposes like home care and nursing or nuclear plant maintenance or maybe someday these robots would act as companion in our day to day life.

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