Bioinspired Multifunctional E‐skin for Robot Dynamic Tactile Real‐Time Feedback Systems Using Triboelectric Sensors and Electrochromic Devices

Abstract

Abstract Designing efficient robot dynamic tactile feedback systems remains a great challenge, especially in disaster relief and human‐computer interaction, because they need to provide timely tactile and visual data. Herein, a novel bioinspired electronic skin (e‐skin) is proposed based on self‐powered triboelectric sensor (TES) arrays and electrochromic device (ECD) arrays. Single‐electrode TES arrays (TESA) are used to detect pressure distribution at the different positions of the robot. The ECD arrays (ECDs) are used as the real‐time visualization window to provide feedback on the pressure distribution by the change in the color of the e‐skin. The bioinspired e‐skin arrayed system possesses a similar capability to Chameleon, displaying the pressure information on the contact surface between the robot and object in real‐time via interactive color‐changing capabilities, such as the location, degree, and distribution. Moreover, the proposed e‐skin can be used as a feedback system for large‐scale curved robot surfaces due to its flexibility, large‐scale process, and excellent compatibility. Thus, the novel design, large‐scale process, and self‐powered advantages make it a good candidate to pave the way for developing human‐robot interactions as robot dynamic tactile real‐time feedback systems.

Keywords

• bioinspired electronic skin
• electrochromic devices
• robot tactile feedback systems
• triboelectric sensors