Actively Perceiving and Responsive Soft Robots Enabled by Self‐Powered, Highly Extensible, and Highly Sensitive Triboelectric Proximity‐ and Pressure‐Sensing Skins

TLDR

Soft robots that emulate organism‑like adaptive bodies promise transformative robot–human and environment interactions, yet conventional technologies struggle with complex structures, mismatched moduli, limited stretchability and sensitivity, high driving voltages, and power dissipation. The study aims to develop skin‑like sensory devices that enable soft robots to actively sense and interact with their environment, mimicking real skin. The triboelectric skins generate electricity through contact electrification and electrostatic induction, allowing them to actively detect proximity, contact, and pressure, and to power optoelectronic devices for visual communication. Self‑powered triboelectric skins with high stretchability and low‑pressure sensitivity enable soft robots to actively perceive their own motions, operational states, textile dampness, and subtle human physiological signals, while also supporting visual communication.

Abstract

Abstract Robots that can move, feel, and respond like organisms will bring revolutionary impact to today's technologies. Soft robots with organism‐like adaptive bodies have shown great potential in vast robot–human and robot–environment applications. Developing skin‐like sensory devices allows them to naturally sense and interact with environment. Also, it would be better if the capabilities to feel can be active, like real skin. However, challenges in the complicated structures, incompatible moduli, poor stretchability and sensitivity, large driving voltage, and power dissipation hinder applicability of conventional technologies. Here, various actively perceivable and responsive soft robots are enabled by self‐powered active triboelectric robotic skins (tribo‐skins) that simultaneously possess excellent stretchability and excellent sensitivity in the low‐pressure regime. The tribo‐skins can actively sense proximity, contact, and pressure to external stimuli via self‐generating electricity. The driving energy comes from a natural triboelectrification effect involving the cooperation of contact electrification and electrostatic induction. The perfect integration of the tribo‐skins and soft actuators enables soft robots to perform various actively sensing and interactive tasks including actively perceiving their muscle motions, working states, textile's dampness, and even subtle human physiological signals. Moreover, the self‐generating signals can drive optoelectronic devices for visual communication and be processed for diverse sophisticated uses.