Integrated Multifunctional Electronic Skins with Low‐Coupling for Complicated and Accurate Human–Robot Collaboration

Abstract

Multifunctional capability and low coupling electronic skin (e-skin) is of great significance in advanced robot systems interacting with the human body or the external environment directly. Herein, a multifunctional e-skin system via vertical integrated different sensing materials and structures is presented. The multifunctional e-skin has capacity sensing the proximity, pressure, temperature, and relative humidity simultaneously, with scope of 100-0 mm, 0-30 N, 20-120 °C and 20-70%, respectively. The sensitivity of the four kinds of sensors can be achieved to 0.72 mm −1 , 16.34 N −1 , 0.0032 °C−1 , and 15.2 pF/%RH, respectively. The cross-coupling errors are less than 1.96%, 1.08%, 2.65%, and 1.64%, respectively, after temperature compensation. To be state-of-the-art, a commercial robot is accurately controlled via the multifunctional e-skin system in the complicated environment. The following and safety controlling exhibit both accuracy and high dynamic features. To improve the sensing performance to the insulating objects, machine learning is employed to classify the conductivity during the object approaching, leading to set the threshold in dynamic. The accuracy for isolating the insulator increases from 18% to 88%. Looking forward, the multifunctional e-skin system has broader applications in human-machine collaboration and industrial safety production technology.

Bionic Surfaces for Fog Collection: A Comprehensive Review of Natural Organisms and Bioinspired Strategies

“…The superhydrophilic surface has a high surface energy, which can strongly interact with micro- and nano water droplets. As a result, the water droplets can be rapidly captured when the fog passes through. − On a superhydrophilic surface, a water droplet can fully spread with a static water contact angle (SWCA) close to 0° as depicted in Figure a. In 1997, Wang et al conducted pioneering research on the superhydrophilicity of titanium dioxide, which catalyzed further studies on the fabrication and application of superhydrophilic surfaces. − Fish scales are composed of calcium phosphate, protein, and a thin layer of mucus.…”

Bioinspired electronic-skin for proximity and pressure detection in robot active sensing

“…For instance, Li et al proposed a multifunctional e-skin that used piezothermal transduction for contact-forces detection and capacitive transduction for proximity sensing [15]. Ge et al reported a multimodal e-skin system that vertically integrated different sensing materials and structures to sense proximity, pressure, temperature, and relative humidity simultaneously [16]. Hughes et al designed a robotic skin that used an array of optical sensors embedded in a layer of PDMS silicone; it could detect deformations in the PDMS caused by applied forces and the proximity of obstacles [17].…”

Stretchable hybrid electronic network-based e-skin for proximity and multifunctional tactile sensing

“…Electronic skins (e-skins) are is rapidly developing to meet the needs of the above applications (Rybak et al, 2023;Gao et al, 2023). In terms of tactile sensing, e-skins are already able to detect signals such as proximity, pressure or tension, respectively (Ge et al, 2023;Li et al, 2022;Zhou et al, 2021). However, due to the mutual interference between detected signals, it is di cult for the device to distinguish between many different signals at the same time.…”