PowerON, a New Zealand startup, claims the next generation of robotics can fabricate muscles, feature sensory skins, and have artificial neurons printed on flexible materials, allowing them to feel.
Junior Research Group Leader at TU Dresden’s Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems and CEO of PowerON, Dr. Markus Henke, mentioned that people are observing a drastic trend in automation across all areas of industries, and they will soon see more of it in their everyday lives.
PowerON uses the results of the collaborative research conducted by TU Dresden’s Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems and the University of Aukland in New Zealand.
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Dr. Markus Henke completed his two-year postdoc fellowship at the University of Auckland in the department of electrical and computer engineering. With the collaboration of TU Dresden, he and his team explored the scientific foundations of multifunctional dielectric elastomers in soft robotics as a part of the Marie Curie Fellowship awarded by the European Commission. Upon his return to TU Dresden, Dr. Markus and his colleagues founded PowerON with the help of Dresden.
Prof Andreas Richter, the Chairperson, and Director of the Institute of Semiconductors and Microsystems, stated that PowerON wants to use a sensory fingertip for industrial robots. According to him, the sensory fingertip of robots will help handle items like eggs or test tubes and harvest fruits and vegetables and can be implemented at home or in healthcare sectors.
