创新背景

植物人是指与植物生存状态相似的特殊的人体状态。植物人大脑仍有功能，虽然丧失认知能力，无法自主活动，但消化吸收、身体代谢、本能神经反射功能仍旧存在。五感刺激是唤醒植物人的温和长效疗法，从视觉、听觉、味觉、触觉等方面使身体恢复反应，使用新兴技术可以帮助感官刺激唤醒植物人。

创新过程

在以往电子皮肤研发的基础上，德国开姆尼茨工业大学和德累斯顿莱布尼茨固体与材料研究所研究人员合作开发了一种新的电子皮肤，利用新型传感器，触觉感知深入到皮肤内的微小毛发，可以更加精准地感知皮肤，研究成果发表在《自然·通讯》上。

皮肤是人体面积最大的敏感性触觉感知器官，对植物人进行触觉刺激的过程就是对皮肤进行刺激，唤醒神经反应和触觉感知。以往的触觉刺激往往通过按摩或接触敏感部位，需要人工细心进行。电子皮肤是仿照人体皮肤制造的具有电子特性的薄膜材料，可以执行自然人类皮肤的一些功能，为受伤需要皮肤移植的患者提供更先进的触觉，同时也可以利用在植物人治疗方面，利用电子信息和传感技术人体皮肤以及内质信息，进行触觉刺激。

毛发是皮肤的附属器，是一种长圆形柱状角质结构。露出皮肤表面的部分称毛干，埋在皮肤内的部分称毛根，毛根末端膨大呈葱头状是毛球。团队所用的微小磁性毛发和天然毛发一样，有毛干、毛根、毛球三部分。把磁性毛发嵌入弹性材料中，毛根和毛球在电子皮肤的表面下，当表面的毛干被触碰时，它们会移动，实时跟踪触摸情况和方向。每一根毛根周围都有三维磁性传感器，实时跟踪根部的确切位置。

把新型电子皮肤运用于植物人治疗，可以利用毛发的追踪作用检测皮肤对外界的感知程度。在敏感的地方多加以按摩，在不敏感的部位逐渐加强刺激，达到触觉刺激的恰当平衡。并在电子皮肤毛发移动追踪的基础上增加机能探测功能，利用电子皮肤和身体皮肤毛孔的紧密相贴进行适当强度皮肤检测和刺激。

在刺激皮肤的同时，可以尝试刺激毛发，在最大的触觉器官和细微的毛发上达到触觉的双倍刺激，增加唤醒植物人的可能，平衡他们的身体机能。

创新关键点

电子技术和医学感知交叉利用，提出电子皮肤毛发刺激触觉唤醒植物人的可能。

The new electronic skin awakens a vegetative person through tactile stimulation

The skin is the largest sensitive tactile sensory organ in the human body. The process of tactile stimulation to a vegetative person is to stimulate the skin to awaken neural responses and tactile perception. In the past, tactile stimulation was often performed by massage or touching sensitive parts, which needed to be done manually and carefully. Electronic skin is a thin-film material with electronic properties that is made by imitating human skin. It can perform some functions of natural human skin, provide more advanced touch for injured patients who need skin transplantation, and can also be used in vegetative therapy, using electronic information and Sensing technology human skin and endoplasmic information for tactile stimulation.

On the basis of previous electronic skin research and development, researchers from Chemnitz University of Technology in Germany and the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden have jointly developed a new electronic skin. Tiny hairs in the skin can sense the skin more accurately. The research results were published in "Nature Communications".

Hair is an appendage of the skin and is an oblong columnar keratinous structure. The part exposed to the surface of the skin is called the hair shaft, the part buried in the skin is called the hair root, and the end of the hair root is swollen in the shape of an onion, which is the hair ball. The tiny magnetic hairs used by the team, like natural hair, have three parts: the hair shaft, the hair root, and the hair bulb. With magnetic hair embedded in an elastic material, the hair roots and hair balls are under the surface of the electronic skin, and when the surface hair shafts are touched, they move, tracking the touch and direction in real time. There are three-dimensional magnetic sensors around each hair root that track the exact location of the root in real time.

The application of the new electronic skin to vegetative treatment can use the tracking effect of hair to detect the skin's perception of the outside world. Massage more in sensitive areas and gradually increase stimulation in insensitive areas to achieve the right balance of tactile stimulation. And on the basis of electronic skin hair movement tracking, the function detection function is added, and the close contact between the electronic skin and the pores of the body skin is used for skin detection and stimulation of appropriate strength.

While stimulating the skin, you can try to stimulate the hair to achieve double stimulation of touch on the largest tactile organ and fine hair, increasing the possibility of awakening vegetative people and balancing their bodily functions.