The development of a sensor system that can predict the subjective softness of human skin is an important goal for the cosmetics industry. Here, we first carried out a subjective softness evaluation test using 65 skin models consisting of polyurethane bilayers with different thickness of the superficial layer and different degree of cross-polymerization of the basal layer. The results showed that perceived softness was dependent on the mechanical properties of both the superficial and basal layers. Then, we used a recently developed tactile sensor system composed of a piezoelectric tactile sensor and a load cell to measure mechanical softness parameters of the superficial layer and the whole model, respectively. Statistical analysis showed that the data obtained from these two sensors were well correlated with the perceived softness of the prepared models. These results suggest that it may be feasible to predict the subjective softness of human skin in vivo from non-invasive mechanical softness measurements of the superficial skin layer and whole skin obtained with our new dual-probe sensor system.

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