New Chip Expected to Advance Development of Humanoids
Korean researchers have developed a semiconductor that receives signals only when the stimulus is strong enough. This technology can facilitate the development of a robot that can feel pain from external stimuli.
The Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) announced on Feb. 13 that a research team led Kang Jong-yoon, head of the Advanced Materials Technology Research Division, and Yoon Jung-ho at the Electronic Materials Research Center has developed an electronic device that easily adapts to weak stimuli but senses pain from strong stimuli. It marked the first device in the world that decides whether to adapt or not depending on the strength of a stimulus. The results of the study were published as a cover paper in the latest issue of Advanced Science, an international journal in the field of material science.
The research team believes that existing research on human signals leans toward imitating some biometric characteristics, such as neurons and synapses. This study was launched to discover how the human body interprets and accepts changes in the external environment.
The newly developed device adjusts the amount of silver particles to control the intensity of bio-signals transmitted to the brain according to the degree of the external stimulus. The research team utilized the characteristics of silver particles that move easily according to an electrical stimulus.
When elements containing a small amount of silver particles and elements containing a large amount of silver particles are connected in parallel, elements containing a large amount of silver particles do not react when weak stimuli are applied. A weak filament is formed in an element containing a small amount of silver particles, but it is soon cut off by heat and the signal stops. It is to adapt to weak stimuli.
On the other hand, when a strong stimulus comes in, elements containing a small amount of silver particles disappear under heat in a short time that humans cannot feel. A filament formed by electronic devices containing many silver particles does not break easily and continue to generate signals. The electronic devices do not adapt to the stimulus, so sense pain.
The electronic device developed this time can be used to develop humanoids that can feel and interact with humans with artificial skin, artificial organs, as it can imitate bio-signals by overcoming existing limitations.
“We made the electronic device adapt not to feel pain from weak stimuli harmless to the human body, and feel pain only from strong stimuli harmful to the human body by going beyond simply imitating pain,” Kang said.