Mao Qian, Liao Zijian, Liu Shiqiang, Yuan Jinfeng, Zhu Rong
State Key Laboratory of Precision Measurement Technology and Instruments, Department of Precision Instrument, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
Nat Commun. 2025 Jul 1;16(1):5693. doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60861-8.
Multi-dimensional mechanoreceptors are crucial for both humans and robots, providing omnidirectional force/torque senses to ensure dexterous and precise manipulations. Current six-axis force/torque sensors are bulky, heavy, and rigid with complicated sensing structures and high-cost manufacture. Although flexible force sensors have emerged recently, their perceptive dimension and performance are limited and still unsatisfactory for practical applications. Here, we propose an ultralight (0.30 g), tiny (fingertip size), and flexible six-axis force/torque sensor with a simple structure and low-cost fabrication. The sensor accurately perceives six-dimensional force/torque via capturing the spatial strain field of an elastic piezo-thermic material utilizing web-like scattered thin-film thermoreceptors. Integrating the sensor on the fingertip of humans or robots, we or robots can dexterously manipulate objects (e.g., open bottle cap), play games, and accomplish human-robot collaborative operations via easy fingertip-touch, demonstrating a broad prospect in applications of helping disabled and elderly people, intelligent robots, and virtual reality.
多维机械感受器对人类和机器人都至关重要，它能提供全方位的力/扭矩感知，以确保灵活而精确的操作。当前的六轴力/扭矩传感器体积庞大、重量较重且结构刚性，传感结构复杂且制造成本高昂。尽管近年来出现了柔性力传感器，但其感知维度和性能有限，在实际应用中仍不尽人意。在此，我们提出一种超轻（0.30克）、微小（指尖大小）且柔性的六轴力/扭矩传感器，其结构简单且制造成本低。该传感器通过利用网状散射薄膜热感受器捕获弹性压电热材料的空间应变场，精确感知六维力/扭矩。将该传感器集成在人类或机器人的指尖上，我们或机器人能够通过简单的指尖触摸灵活地操纵物体（如打开瓶盖）、玩游戏并完成人机协作操作，在帮助残疾人和老年人、智能机器人及虚拟现实等应用领域展现出广阔前景。
