3D Pocket-Shape Dermis-Equivalent as a Skin Material for a Robotic Finger

Skin-equivalent, the in vitro human skin model consisting of dermal and epidermal layers, has the potential to be the human-like and self-healing cover for robots. In this paper, we report a method to fabricate a 3D pocket-shape dermis-equivalent, the main component of the skin-equivalent, and practically cover a robotic finger with it. To fabricate the robotic finger wearing this dermis-equivalent, we designed a small wire-driven robot and covered it with the pocket-shape dermis-equivalent using the proposed method. The robotic finger was able to repeat the alternative bending/unbending motion without splitting the dermis-equivalent. This pocket-shape dermis-equivalent can be applied for the human-like and self-renewable cover for robots.