Robots are slowly making their way to become an essential component of our daily lives, some of which have entered health care workers, warehouse employees, and even restaurant chefs.

As the field advances further, researchers are keen to make future robots more "human" by understanding the sense of touch.

PowerOn says its next generation of robots will have sensory skins, muscles and artificial neurons printed on flexible materials that allow them to feel, according to a press release from the Technical University of Dresden in Germany last Friday.

The new startup uses the results of research conducted by the Technical Universities of Dresden in Germany and Auckland in New Zealand.

“We see a sharp upward trend in automation in all areas of industry, and we will soon see more of this in our daily lives,” said Dr. Markus Henke, Head of the Research Group for Semiconductors and Microsystems at the Dresden University of Technology and CEO of PowerOn.

The research team investigated the theoretical underpinnings of multifunctional dielectrics used in the manufacture of soft robots, as part of a Marie Curie Fellowship awarded by the European Commission.

We are proud to announce a boost in our long lasting collaboration with Technische Universität Dresden The MEiTNER research group will investigate the fundamentals of multifunctional stretchable electronics.

The group is led by our CEO E.-F.

Markus Henke.

https://t.co/vl99gnpCkl

— PowerON Ltd.

(@LtdPoweron) August 28, 2020

Robots and the sense of fingers

The Power On team hopes to greatly increase the application fields of industrial robots with its first product, a sensory finger;

The finger is designed as a mechanical gripper to complete precise tasks in many areas.

The gripper is a 3D-printed finger made of flexible materials, lacks traditional joints, and has a skin texture that discovers how to grip things.

The startup says it has already been able to demonstrate the interaction between artificial muscles, artificial neurons, and touch-sensitive skin. The robotic gripper is driven only by artificial muscles, and is also managed by artificial neurons.

PowerOn, a subsidiary of Henke, was founded with the help and support of existing grants in Dresden and some venture capital financing, and is now making some impressive progress.

"Once the technology is developed enough, we expect to see robots not only in industry but also in our daily lives," Henke said.

Engineers are currently seeking to use the startup's first product - a kind of sensory fingertip for industrial robots - to greatly expand the application fields of robotics, and allow traditional robot grippers to perform more precise tasks.

Although no specific date has been specified, initial hands-on tests of the product will begin in the coming weeks, according to the startup's press release.

The robots were shown for the first time at the Saxony TechTox conference on December 6, 2022.