An Artificial Intelligence‐Motivated Skin‐Like Optical Fiber Tactile Sensor

Abstract

Soft and stretchable tactile sensors have received extensive attention for their potential applications in wearables, human–robot interaction, and intelligent robots. Herein, inspired by the functions of skin somatosensory signal generation and processing, an artificial intelligence‐motivated skin‐like optical fiber tactile (SOFT) sensor is proposed. It features multifunctional touch interaction capabilities including tactile amplitude and position and tensile strain. Four fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) are embedded in a skin‐like three‐layer laminate structure of the SOFT sensor, forming a flexible tactile sensing array with a stretchability larger than 20%. Fusing the two‐level cascaded neural network, the position and magnitude of the contact force can be distinguished simultaneously. The recognition accuracy for contact position is up to 92.41% and the error is less than 4.2% within the force range of 0–3.5 N. Several SOFT sensor‐based interactive applications including pressure password interface and music playback are achieved by combining the artificial intelligence spatiotemporal dynamic logic analysis. Furthermore, the sensor is also capable of complex scenes involving tension and tactile sensing, such as dexterous hand perception and human–robot interaction control. This work provides novel insights into artificial intelligence‐based integrated skin that shows broad promise in intelligent prosthetics and bionic robotic.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• flexible tactile sensors
• human–machine interactions
• optical fibers
• robot skins