Flexible computing receives an artificial skin

Flexible computing technology is of wide interest and recently a plastic skin developed might give it a better position. It is a thin sheet of plastic which emit light when pressed and intensity of light depends on the pressure applied. Inventors say that this technology will be used in future for robotics, car dashboard, mobile displays and interactive wallpapers as well.

It is manufactured by Dr. Ali Javi and his team, who is an associate professor in electrical engineering and computer sciences at the University of California. Researchers called this technology electric skin. His group developed a technique which enabled integration of organic and non-organic components simultaneously.
Recently technologies developing alternates of silicon wafers are getting potential as silicon wafer is the only medium at the moment to manufacture electric circuits. A limitation for these wafers is their hardness. These flexible  circuits might be revolutionary and find applications in medical fields.
Ali Javi and his research team prepared a high resolution pressure sensor which was prepared on a large plastic patch with nano wires. This sensor works on the application of pressure and the team intended to create a pressure sensor array which could interact directly with humans. Researchers prepared pressure sensors with rubber, OLED, carbon nanotubes and silicon wafers. However plastic wafers are till now the most complicated ones.