Inspiration can come from anywhere. For Dr. Benjamin Tee, it was a scene from the second Star Wars movie, The Empire Strikes Back. “There was a scene when Luke Skywalker lost his hand, and towards the end a robot surgeon repaired his hand, complete with full sensations. And I really wanted to recreate this science fiction scene into scientific reality.”
Dr. Tee and his colleagues at the National University of Singapore have created ACES – Asynchronous Coded Electronic Skin – a collection of 100 sensors packed into a patch only 1 square centimeter big. Their goal is to create a synthetic skin for robotic and prosthetic applications that will mimic the sensation of human touch. Tee explains that “Humans use our sense of touch to accomplish almost every daily task, such as picking up a cup of coffee or making a handshake. Without it, we will even lose our sense of balance when walking.”
Though still in the experimental stage, ACES can already accurately detect the shape, texture, and density of objects, and does so 10 times faster than the human eye can blink. It can read Braille letters with an accuracy rate of better than 90%. Small wonder then that the medical community has shown “tremendous interest” in Tee’s work.
Dr. Elizabeth Segal of Arizona State University has also studied the lack of touch, although her work takes a somewhat different angle. As a psychologist, she’s interested in leaders who lose touch with their teams. She cites two specific reasons why leaders tend to lose empathy for those around them.
The first is lack of personal experience. People in charge often have no idea what life is like for most of the people working for them. Even if someone “came up through the ranks,” time and distance have a way of muting memories of what that early work experience was like.
Secondly, Segal says that “power blocks empathy.” The more layers there are in an organization, the less those at the top need to attend to the behaviors of those lower in the hierarchy. Because their success depends on attending to the moods and needs of those higher up the chain, workers lower in the organization are better at reading other people. “People in power can be empathetic, but they need to work at it, to want to feel for others.”
Fortunately, there are some easy ways for leaders to stay connected with their teams. The Refresh Leadership Blog offers these simple tips.
Take an employee to lunch. Let your guard down and ask some questions. Allow them to ask questions of their own. Relate on a personal level vs. a strictly business one.
Walk in their shoes. Schedule time to shadow an employee to see what they face during an average day. Don’t interfere or of offer feedback. Just observe, listen, and learn.
Hold regular team meetings. Create time where employees can discuss issues and ideas. Let them share concerns freely and engage with them without passing judgement.
Staying connected with your team is critical maintaining a healthy work environment. Leaders who lose touch run the risk of damaging morale and productivity. Like skin, trust is easy to damage and takes a long time to repair. Just ask Dr. Tee – his team is also working to develop a self-healing artificial skin.
“A year from now, you will wish you had started today.” Karen Lamb
My daughter and I have taken to watching a new Netflix show called Floor is Lava. It’s a reality competition based on a game many can identify with. As kids, my brothers and I would pretend the floors of our house were covered in lava (or quicksand, or shark-infested water) and would role-play various adventures that required us to navigate the house by climbing on the furniture. We’d jump from bed to bed, crawl over tables, and use couch cushions as islands – anything to avoid touching the floor. Netflix has taken this concept and created an adult-sized obstacle course.
What a wild ride the past few weeks have been. I haven’t written since May 27th, and while I could blame the gap on being busy (who hasn’t been?), the truth is I just haven’t been able to find the words. So much has happened in our country this year that has shaped each of our lives. Every one of us has found ourselves thinking, and speaking, and acting in ways we never thought we would. It’s frightening how quickly things can change – and just as scary to realize how quickly we get used to the chaos.
When Chris Kyle’s daughter Ava received a new kitchen playset, she invited him to come for a meal at her restaurant, Ava’s Kitchen. The dutiful dad agreed and soon after he posted a review of his visit. The Instagram post went viral.
On March 12th, just as the coronavirus pandemic began impacting the United States, an all-too-familiar scene played out in Hiram, Georgia. In the wine aisle of the local Sam’s Club, a man in a motorized scooter bumped into the shopping cart holding a child. The parents confronted the man, who tried to back away from them. Tempers flared, words were exchanged, and a fight broke out. As bystander video shows, wine bottles were broken and used as weapons. By the time police arrived to break up the scene, there was wine all over the floor and one individual had to be carried out on a stretcher. While initial reports indicated that the fight erupted during a fight over toilet paper and other supplies, the truth is far uglier. This was simply human nature on display.
As a young Star Wars fan, I diligently saved each week’s allowance in order to add to my collection of action figures. I had all of the most popular ones like Han Solo, Princes Leia, and Darth Vader, but my favorites were always the more obscure characters. Many of these were hard to find, and some required special effort to acquire.
Rebecca was nineteen, but had the intellect of an eight year old. She was clumsy and uncoordinated, often having trouble putting her clothes on correctly. She could not navigate around the block or properly use a key to open a door. Her grandmother described her as having “no sense of space.”
This weekend, I ventured out of the house to pick up a new washing machine. We’d been trying to get by with an older unit that was clearly on its last legs. Because laundry for five is a never-ending process, we finally went online and ordered a new one. Lowes made it easy, and I didn’t even have to go inside; they brought it out and helped me lift it into the truck.
All around the world, doors have closed.
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