An Imperceptible Magnetic Skin

Abstract

Flexible and wearable magnetoelectronics add intriguing new functionalities to our natural perception. Of particular interest regarding these artificial skins are wireless sensing and touchless interactions. Biocompatibility and imperceptibility are the most significant features of wearable devices attached to our bodies. In this work, a biocompatible magnetic skin is introduced. It offers extreme flexibility, stretchability (>300%), and lightweight while maintaining a remanent magnetization up to 360 mT. The magnetic skin is comfortable to wear, can be realized in any desired shape or color, and adds tunable permanent magnetic properties to the surface it is applied to. It provides remote control functions and combined with magnetic sensors; it implements a complete wearable magnetic system. For example, eye tracking is realized by attaching the magnetic skin to the eyelid. The advantage that it does not require any wiring makes it an extremely viable solution for soft robotics and human-machine interactions. Wearing the magnetic skin on a finger or integrated

A Review of Magnetic Elastomers and Their Role in Soft Robotics

“…This opens the possibility of varied medical uses, where magnetic fields, such as those generated by magnetic resonance imaging machines, may be used to remotely manipulate a soft robot. Another approach created a wearable, magnetic skin composed of hME for multiple applications, including eye-tracking and remote gesture control when used in coordination with other sensors (Almansouri et al, 2019). Remote inputs, or onboard control methods, could build on the existing control FIGURE 2 | A compilation of hMEs and their soft robotic applications: (A) a bending hME actuator, controlled by the application of a magnetic field (Lum et al, 2016), (B) 3D printer head with electromagnet around the nozzle to program magnetic domains of the extruded hME throughout the print (Kim et al, 2018), (C) soft swimmer with varying applied fields to enable shape change and a swimming gait (Hu et al, 2018), (D) a triangular tail soft swimmer with varying magnetic domains to enable an undulating swimming motion (Manamanchaiyaporn et al, 2020), (E) origami-inspired folded fish robot swimming utilizing remote magnetic guidance (Sung et al, 2017), and (F) steerable hME-based wire, guided remotely (Kim et al, 2019).…”

“…This opens the possibility of varied medical uses, where magnetic fields, such as those generated by magnetic resonance imaging machines, may be used to remotely manipulate a soft robot. Another approach created a wearable, magnetic skin composed of hME for multiple applications, including eye-tracking and remote gesture control when used in coordination with other sensors (Almansouri et al, 2019 ). Remote inputs, or on-board control methods, could build on the existing control methodologies frequently utilizing standard electromagnetic motors to actuate origami soft robots (Rus and Tolley, 2018 ).…”

An Assistive Magnetic Skin System: Enabling Technology for Quadriplegics

“…The magnetic skin is stretchable, flexible, comfortable, and biocompatible. [ 15 ] Figure shows a photograph of a user wearing the smart‐glasses and three patches of the magnetic skin (i.e., one on the glabella and two on the nose). As presented, the magnetic skin can be realized in any shape; for example, on the glabella, it is shaped like the word “ENABLE,” thus, allowing for customizable personal preferences.…”

“…This ratio offers the best combination of the high remanent magnetization and high flexibility (Supporting Information 5). [ 15 ] For such condition, a 1:1 wt% 10 × 2 × 0.7 mm 3 magnetic skin sample has a magnetic flux density of 177 μT at 7 mm distance. Such a high magnetic field is sufficient to be detected by the magnetic‐field sensors with good signal to noise ratio.…”

“…The magnetic skin is durable and these enhanced properties is maintained over 1000 stress cycles. [ 15 ] Furthermore, the magnetic skin biocompatibility is evidenced by the results of a PrestoBlue cell viability test, where cells maintain a high viability (i.e., >90%), when cultured on top of a magnetic skin for three days. [ 15 ]…”