Cold-resistant electronic 'skin' will support China's polar research

China's first domestically built polar research vessel and icebreaker, Xuelong 2 docks at the Jiangnan Shipyard in Shanghai on Thursday morning. Photo: Polar Research Institute of China

A Chinese university has developed a type of electronic "skin" for robots that can function in temperatures as low as -78 C, a breakthrough that could support China's polar research and facilitate scientific activities in extreme environments.

This new material can be wrapped around a robot's palms. It provides tactile sensation and gives robotic hands high self-healing ability and high sensitivity.

It can accurately sense pressure and identify the shape of items and special symbols, according to a statement sent by Tianjin University to the Global Times on Thursday.

"This technological breakthrough will help robots overcome the challenges of extremely low temperatures, which pose a major issue for their use in polar regions," Liu Tingting, a research fellow at the Wuhan University Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, told the Global Times on Thursday.

The material can ensure the proper functioning of robot bodies and their batteries in harsh environments such as those found in polar regions, Liu added.

The complex glacial terrain and harsh weather conditions in Antarctica pose significant challenges for researchers. China's ongoing exploration and application of high-tech materials are helping address these tough tasks in polar-related research.

Multiple technologies have been applied to assist China's polar exploration. For instance, according to the Wuhan University Chinese Antarctic Center of Surveying and Mapping, the development and application of drone technology gave significant support to China's Antarctic inland expeditions in April, particularly in surveying terrain and land surface coverage.

Liu said that such breakthroughs could help solve challenges faced in China's research in polar regions, such as carrying out tasks that are unsuitable for humans and in areas that are too dangerous to reach.

Yang Jing, one of the professors at Tianjin University who lead the research team, was quoted as saying in the statement that the team created a world-leading self-healing electronic material as early as 2020.

The electronic ''skin'' represents a further breakthrough in the technology, and it is expected to have broad applications in polar research and beyond.