SKINBOARD
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PRESSURE-SENSITIVE SILICONE SKIN

Our approach is based on flexible, planar silicone waveguides. The idea is that, similar to a normal optical waveguide, three stacked planar layers are made from flexible materials. The inner layer has a higher refractive index and is optically translucent. Thus, light sent into the inner layer is kept inside thanks to total internal reflection. When pressure is applied on the skin, the amount of light that can pass through is reduced due to the deformation of the skin, the pressure throws a “shadow”. Sensors placed all around can measure this shadow. By switching on LEDs all around the skin sequentially, we get pressure data from multiple perspectives. Using different algorithms, the location and intensity of the pressure can be reconstructed as a pressure map.