Researchers from Tsinghua University developed an e-skin strain that replicates the structure of human skin, featuring its own epidermis, dermis, and subcutaneous tissue, and it can simultaneously decode and perceive pressure, friction, and tension.

Zhang Yihui, one of the study’s experts, said that a patch of the e-skin is comparable in size to the tip of an index finger and is equipped with 240 metal sensors. Each ranges from 200 to 300 microns in size.

Zhang explained that the spatial arrangement of those sensors closely mimics the distribution of tactile receptor cells within human skin and added that the sensors amass signals that are meticulously processed and subsequently refined through deep learning algorithms.

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