Developing skin-based technologies for interactive robots-challenges in design, development and the possible integration in therapeutic environments

Scaled technologies continue to exhibit variability, driven by both random process effects and systematic structural effects. Process and design rule actions can be taken to reduce, or even eliminate, sources of systematic variability. Random variability is more difficult to combat, but architectural decisions can be made to limit the device sensitivity to specific random effects. A review of several current sources of technology variability is presented, and the impacts to the overall technology offering are assessed.