Self-repairing robotic muscles: electronic skin mimics the human body
From the University of Nebraska comes the first prototype that detects damage and repairs itself, like a living organism
3' min read
Key points
3' min read
Robotic muscles capable of self-repair thanks to an electronic skin that regenerates itself, just like the human skin. This is the result obtained by a group of engineers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, who have taken an important step towards the realisation of robotic systems capable of resisting wear and tear and external damage by imitating the self-healing capacity of human skin tissue.
Presented at the 2025 International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Atlanta, the project, as reported in Italy by HDblog.co.uk, has developed the first prototype of an intelligent artificial muscle that can detect an injury, localise it and repair itself without external intervention.
According to Eric Markvicka, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and project coordinator: 'The human body and animals are incredible. We can be cut and bruised and have quite serious injuries. And in most cases, with very limited external applications of bandages and drugs, we are able to self-heal many things," reads the project's presentation page. "If we could replicate that within synthetic systems, that would really transform the field and the way we think about electronics and machines."
The Operation
.The device developed by the team is an artificial muscle with three layers. The top layer is the actuator, pressurised with water to generate movement. In the middle is a rigid but self-repairing thermoplastic elastomer. The bottom layer, the 'electronic skin', is composed of microdroplets of liquid metal immersed in a silicone elastomer and acts as a damage sensor.
The way it works is revolutionary: the system sends five small streams of current through the electronic skin. When this is damaged by a puncture or too much pressure, a connection is created between the internal circuits. The system interprets this connection as a damage signal and increases the current in that area. The heat produced by the current melts a special layer within the material, which remodels and automatically closes the wound.
