Fingerprint‐Inspired Flexible Tactile Sensor for Accurately Discerning Surface Texture

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 14; no. 16; pp. e1703902 - n/a
• Main Authors: Cao, Yudong, Li, Tie, Gu, Yang, Luo, Hui, Wang, Shuqi, Zhang, Ting
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.04.2018
• Subjects: Braille; Braille characters; carbon nanotubes; Change detection; Fingerprints; Flexible components; flexible sensors; Nanotechnology; Perception; Polydimethylsiloxane; Polyethylenes; Sensor arrays; Sensors; Single wall carbon nanotubes; Surface layers; tactile sensors; Tactile sensors (robotics); Texture recognition; Braille characters; flexible sensors; carbon nanotubes; tactile sensors; fingerprints
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201703902

Inspired by the epidermal–dermal and outer microstructures of the human fingerprint, a novel flexible sensor device is designed to improve haptic perception and surface texture recognition, which is consisted of single‐walled carbon nanotubes, polyethylene, and polydimethylsiloxane with interlocked and outer micropyramid arrays. The sensor shows high pressure sensitivity (−3.26 kPa−1 in the pressure range of 0−300 Pa), and it can detect the shear force changes induced by the dynamic interaction between the outer micropyramid structure on the sensor and the tested material surface, and the minimum dimension of the microstripe that can be discerned is as low as 15 µm × 15 µm (interval × width). To demonstrate the texture discrimination capability, the sensors are tested for accurately discerning various surface textures, such as the textures of different fabrics, Braille characters, the inverted pyramid patterns, which will have great potential in robot skins and haptic perception, etc. Fingerprint‐inspired flexible tactile sensor shows high pressure sensitivity (−3.26 kPa−1), and the minimum dimension of the microstripe that can be discerned is as low as 15 µm × 15 µm. The tactile sensor can accurately discern various surface textures, such as different fabrics, Braille characters, and the inverted pyramid patterns, which will have great potential in robot skins and haptic perception.