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A technician monitors equipment at the State Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology. [Photo/Tide News]

A groundbreaking 3D-structured bionic "electronic skin" that enables humanoid robots to simultaneously detect pressure and friction forces was recently developed in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang province.

The multi-direction bionic tactile sensing skin (MBT-Skin) is regarded as being a key innovation that addresses a critical challenge in robotics in their path towards true intelligence.

The technology embeds ultra-sensitive flexible sensors beneath synthetic skin layers, allowing robots to process tactile data for more natural movements.

"This is the key to making the action of robots more intelligent, natural, and user-friendly, a must-solve problem on the road to intelligent development. Now we finally have our own solution," said Chen Yihao, deputy researcher at the State Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology and a technical expert at the Zhejiang Tsinghua Flexible Electronic Technology Research Institute.

The achievement follows Jiaxing's two-decade-long investment in cutting-edge research. When the Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, Zhejiang was established in the city in 2004, it has paved the way for today's innovation ecosystem there.

In terms of the latest development for android robots, early-stage struggles saw the team test over a dozen sensor configurations over two years before achieving viable prototypes.

A breakthrough came in 2023 after cross-disciplinary collaboration, combining flexible electronics with mechanics to solve 3D force detection. The resulting skin-like matrix can integrate 40 micro-sensors per fingertip — a 20-times density improvement over conventional rigid sensors.

The research is widely viewed as exemplifying Jiaxing's growing role in frontier technologies. The MBT-Skin is expected to pave the way for a technological revolution in the field of intelligent humanoid robots.