Koreatech (Korea University of Technology and Education), Kumoh National Institute of Technology, Sungkyunkwan University, and Pohang University of Science and Technology joint research team reports the development of the transparent and stretchable empathetic haptic skin cushion that can haptically communicate emotions between humans and robots or electronic devices. The study appears in the journal ‘Chemical Engineering Journal’ in March. 

This research team succeeded in developing empathetic haptic skin by attaching polyvinyl chloride gel which is usually used for a cling film and hydrogel which is polymer networks entrapping water. The dielectric, electrical, optical, and mechanical properties of the proposed skin are adjusted by the type, ratio, and concentration of the dualplasticizers. Hydrogels adhere strongly to the upper and lower surfaces of the polyvinyl chloride gel via covalent bonding to form durable, reliable, and sensitive empathetic skin.

 The skin exhibits excellent transparency and stretchability with low mechanical hysteresis. In addition, the skin senses the capacitance or resistance of the polyvinyl chloride gel by varying its operating frequency, which enables the perception of various external pressures for detecting emotional touches (patting, tapping, stretching, pinching, and twisting). Thus, the skin cushion can be used as a new tactile emotional interface system for future emotion-interactive shape-deformable materials and devices.

[Reference] Choi, D.-S. et al.,“Emotion-interactive empathetic transparent skin cushion with tailored frequency-dependent hydrogel–plasticized nonionic polyvinyl chloride interconnections”, Chemical Engineering Journal, DOI:10.1016/j.cej.2022.136142

[Main Author] Dong-Soo Choi (Kumoh National Institute of Technology), Changhyun Pang (Sungkyunkwan University), Sang-Youn Kim(Korea University of Technology and Education)

*Contact : Professor Sang-Youn Kim (sykim@koreatech.ac.kr), Professor Changhyun Pang (chpang@skku.edu)