Recovery behavior of artificial skin materials after object contact

Abstract

As social robots and lifelike prosthetics get into closer contact with humans, understanding the mechanical behavior of the embedding skin materials for prosthetic and social robotic fingertips is of great importance. The time-dependent behavior can alter the performance of the embedded sensors. This paper investigates two types of embedding materials (i.e. silicone and polyurethane) for their recovery after contact with a surface. A visco-hyperelastic finite element model of a fingertip is described. This model allows the visualization of the materials' responses after a creep test. This analysis was performed to investigate the recovery time of the materials after contact was made. Simulation results show the differences between the two materials. The results are useful for materials selection and to further investigate other design alternatives and to minimize the effects of the time delay.