VOA常速英语2015--科学家研制出可伸缩触感材料人造皮肤（在线收听）

科学家研制出可伸缩触感材料人造皮肤

Artificial robotic hands are getting increasingly better at emulating human hands and the most advanced can even be controlled by thoughts.

人工机械手臂在模仿人手方面正越发完美而且最为先进的机械手甚至可借由思想进行控制。

But people who wear bionic hands must rely on their sight to know what they are touching or grasping.

但穿戴仿生手臂的使用者必须依靠自身视觉才能获悉碰触或抓握的感觉。

Now, though, researchers in South Korea and the U.S. say they have created a stretchable artificial skin that can register heat, pressure and moisture.

而现在韩国和美国的一组研究人员表示他们已经研制出一种可感知热力、压力及湿度的伸缩人造皮肤。

This polymer-based elastic material is not designed to replace damaged human skin, such as in burn victims, but rather to provide high-resolution sensory capabilities for prosthetic limbs or for the limbs of humanoid robots.

这种聚合物为材料制造出的弹性材料并非作为诸如烧伤患者等的人类受损皮肤替代品,而是能够为假肢或人形机器人提供高解析度的感官功能。

Team leader Kim Dae-Hyeong, a professor at the Seoul National University School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, says its sensors are an exact copy of human skin.

该组团队的领导人，首尔国立大学化学与生物工程学院金大恒教授表示这种传感器精确复制了人类皮肤。

“The skin can feel pressure, temperature, strain, humidity.Also it is soft, just like human skin, and embedded with heating elements that can make itself warm.”

“这种皮肤能感受到压力,温度,压力及湿度。同样它也很软,就像人类的皮肤,而嵌入式的加热元件可以使自身产生热量。”

Kim says the artificial skin is made of a combination of rubber, polyamide and silicon with sensor density of up to 400 per square millimeter.

金表示这种人造皮肤是由橡胶、聚酰胺和硅制造而成，而传感器浓度达到每平方毫米400。

An artificial hand wrapped in the new skin could distinguish between dry and moist objects and measure the pressure of the grasp.

新皮肤包裹下的人工手臂能够区分干燥和潮湿材质并且对压力进行测量。

But Kim says what it still can not do is send those signals to a human brain. That, he says, is the scientists'ultimate goal.

但金表示它仍然不能将这些信号发送给大脑。他称这是科学家们的终极目标。

“I hope a robotic limb with this synthetic skin can be used by disabled people.For industrial uses, it can be applied to various types of robots, like a humanoid robot."

“我希望机器人义肢与这种合成皮肤可以为供残疾人带来便利。而在工业用途中,它可以应用到人形机器人等各类型的机器人。”

Scientists say with this sensitive skin, robots may someday be able to type on keyboards and even change a baby's wet diaper.

科学家们表示凭借这种感知肌肤机器人可能在未来能够从事打字工作,甚至替婴儿换尿布。