New Delhi, Jan. 4 -- Researchers in Hong Kong have taken a significant step towards safer and more responsive humanoid robots by developing an electronic skin that can feel touch and react to pain in a human-like way.

A team at the City University of Hong Kong, led by engineer Yuyu Gao, has created a neuromorphic robotic skin designed to mirror how the human nervous system processes touch and pain. The technology, described in a paper published in the journal PNAS, allows robots to sense contact, recognise potentially damaging force and respond almost instantly with protective movements.

Unlike conventional robotic skins that simply measure pressure, this new system translates physical contact into electrical signals that resemble neura...