Bio-Inspired Artificial Receptor with Integrated Tactile Sensing and Pain Warning Perceptual Abilities

Abstract

Inspired by the mechanism of touch and pain in human skin, we integrated two ion-sensing films and a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) layer together to achieve a bionic artificial receptor with the capacity of distinguishing touch or pain perception through ion-electrical effect. The ion-sensing film provides the carrier of touch or pain perception, while the PDMS layer as a soft substrate is used to regulate the perception ability of receptor. Through a series of experiments, we investigated the effects of physical properties of the PDMS layer on the sensing ability of an artificial receptor. Further, contact area tests were performed in order to distinguish touch or pain under a sharp object. It is revealed that the pressure threshold triggering the touch and pain feedback of the artificial receptor presented an increasing trend when the elastic modulus and thickness of the PDMS substrate increase. The distinction ability of touch and pain becomes more pronounced under higher elastic modulus and larger thickness. Furthermore, the induced pain feedback becomes more intense with the decrease of the loading area under the same load, and the threshold of pain drops down from 176.68 kPa to 54.57 kPa with the decrease of the radius from 3 mm to 1 mm. This work potentially provides a new strategy for developing electronic skin with tactile sensing and pain warning. The pressure threshold and sensing range can be regulated by changing the physical properties of the middle layer, which would be advantageous to robotics and healthcare fields.

Perspective on the development and application of ionic polymer metal composites: from actuators to multifunctional sensors

“…In addition, by laminating two pieces of IPMC and a layer of PDMS, different sensitivity and force sensing ranges can be achieved by two IPMCs (Figure 4g). 74 It can simulate human touch and pain perception, further enrich the function of artificial skin, and help realize robots with human-like perception functions.…”

Strain and Pressure Sensors Based on MWCNT/PDMS for Human Motion/Perception Detection

“…Therefore, flexible sensors [ 2 , 3 ] have gradually replaced traditional sensors based on hard substrates. At present, flexible sensors can be divided into several typical types according to their working principles, such as piezoelectric [ 4 ], piezoresistive [ 5 ], capacitive [ 6 ], ionic [ 7 ], triboelectric [ 8 ], etc. Among them, flexible piezoresistive sensors can be manufactured in various modes through different combinations of elastic substrate materials and micro-nano conductive media, which have the advantages of a simple structure, easy manufacturing process, low cost, high sensitivity and a wide response range.…”