China - April 23, 2025 Storyline: Chinese tech firm develops hyper-realistic robot 'e-skin' [Voice_over] In the rapidly evolving humanoid robotic market, a company in China has created an e-skin that gives AI embodied robots tactile abilities similar to humans. This highly flexible, lightweight material can be stretched and squeezed to mimic the subtle functionality of human skin. It detects the slightest touch, sensing pressure as small as a single gram. [Sound_bite] Lai Jiancheng, founder, Tujian Technology: "We achieved compatibility between each material at the chemical level, allowing them to integrate seamlessly, layer by layer. The resulting device is just a few dozen microns thick, with a multi-layer structure. This structure deforms under pressure, causing changes in its electrical properties. By examining these electrical properties, we can determine the corresponding force applied -- similar to how human skin transforms pressure into bioelectric signals.” [Voice_over] Lai explains that the e-skin can be stretched to cover irregular surfaces, like robot fingers. The material is durable and if part of it gets damaged, the rest keeps working, like real skin. [Sound_bite] Lai Jiancheng, founder, Tujian Technology: "As you can see, this is a crisscross structure, and at each intersection of the cross lines lies a sensor. You can regard it as similar to the pixels on a phone screen -- each point is like a pixel that can sense changes in pressure, temperature, and even proximity. These variations can all be detected." [Restrictions : No access Chinese mainland]