Liu Ya-Feng, Wang Wei, Chen Xu-Fang
College of Artificial Intelligence, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
College of Aerospace Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, China.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2023 Sep 26;11:1264563. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2023.1264563. eCollection 2023.
Flexible tactile sensors have the advantages of large deformation detection, high fault tolerance, and excellent conformability, which enable conformal integration onto the complex surface of human skin for long-term bio-signal monitoring. The breakthrough of flexible tactile sensors rather than conventional tactile sensors greatly expanded application scenarios. Flexible tactile sensors are applied in fields including not only intelligent wearable devices for gaming but also electronic skins, disease diagnosis devices, health monitoring devices, intelligent neck pillows, and intelligent massage devices in the medical field; intelligent bracelets and metaverse gloves in the consumer field; as well as even brain-computer interfaces. Therefore, it is necessary to provide an overview of the current technological level and future development of flexible tactile sensors to ease and expedite their deployment and to make the critical transition from the laboratory to the market. This paper discusses the materials and preparation technologies of flexible tactile sensors, summarizing various applications in human signal monitoring, robotic tactile sensing, and human-machine interaction. Finally, the current challenges on flexible tactile sensors are also briefly discussed, providing some prospects for future directions.
柔性触觉传感器具有大变形检测、高容错性和出色贴合性等优点，能够贴合集成到人体皮肤的复杂表面上，用于长期生物信号监测。柔性触觉传感器相较于传统触觉传感器的突破极大地扩展了应用场景。柔性触觉传感器不仅应用于游戏智能可穿戴设备等领域，还应用于医疗领域的电子皮肤、疾病诊断设备、健康监测设备、智能颈枕和智能按摩设备；消费领域的智能手环和元宇宙手套；甚至还应用于脑机接口。因此，有必要概述柔性触觉传感器的当前技术水平和未来发展，以促进和加快其部署，并实现从实验室到市场的关键转变。本文讨论了柔性触觉传感器的材料和制备技术，总结了其在人体信号监测、机器人触觉传感和人机交互中的各种应用。最后，还简要讨论了柔性触觉传感器当前面临的挑战，并对未来发展方向进行了展望。
