At the 2026 World Robot Conference, a flexible electronic skin named "Skin-X" made a stunning debut. Developed by the Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Electronic Materials, its core base material utilizes special high-phenyl silicone rubber. Unlike traditional silicone rubber, this material maintains high elasticity and stretchability while extending its operating temperature range from -70°C to 350°C. It also features extremely high piezoresistive sensitivity, enabling robots to accurately perceive minute changes in pressure, temperature, and humidity in extreme environments. In scenarios such as industrial manufacturing, deep space exploration, and fire rescue, robots often face harsh environments of extreme heat or cold. The R&D team constructed a stable conductive network by doping conductive carbon nanotubes into the phenyl silicone rubber matrix. When the material is subjected to pressure, the conductive pathways change, outputting electrical signals. Experiments showed that the e-skin could accurately identify a metal wire with a diameter of 0.5mm even in a 300°C oven, and maintained performance without degradation after soaking in liquid nitrogen (-196°C) and returning to room temperature. This breakthrough clears the perception-level obstacles for the large-scale application of humanoid robots in complex industrial scenarios.
Phenyl silicone rubber IOTA BHTV 3830 series