Technologies that seek to make robots more like humans seem to be all over the news lately. But what about aircraft? BAE Systems is investigating a human-like skin that could cover aircraft wings or fuselages and provide potential for sensing wind speed, temperature, and movement far more accurately than current technologies. Thousands of embedded micro sensors as small as grains of dust could create a smart skin that continuously monitors the health of onboard systems, detecting physical stress and strain and sending alerts to avoid conditions that could damage the structure and put safety at risk.
