Zero‐Biased Bionic Fingertip E‐Skin with Multimodal Tactile Perception and Artificial Intelligence for Augmented Touch Awareness

TLDR

Electronic skins are essential for robotics and wearables, yet achieving comprehensive multimodal tactile perception in a single, simple sensor remains a challenge. The study develops two zero‑biased tactile sensors, TVAN and SPAN, to synergistically capture vibration, material, texture, pressure, and temperature in one device. Machine‑learning feature fusion is used to decode the sensors’ outputs and mitigate instability from force, speed, and other variables. The resulting E‑skin delivers holistic touch awareness, accurately detecting surface roughness, hardness, and temperature across wide ranges and distinguishing 16 objects, while being simple and scalable for diverse applications.

Abstract

Abstract Electronic skins (E‐Skins) are crucial for future robotics and wearable devices to interact with and perceive the real world. Prior research faces challenges in achieving comprehensive tactile perception and versatile functionality while keeping system simplicity for lack of multimodal sensing capability in a single sensor. Two kinds of tactile sensors, transient voltage artificial neuron (TVAN) and sustained potential artificial neuron (SPAN), featuring self‐generated zero‐biased signals are developed to realize synergistic sensing of multimodal information (vibration, material, texture, pressure, and temperature) in a single device instead of complex sensor arrays. Simultaneously, machine learning with feature fusion is applied to fully decode their output information and compensate for the inevitable instability of applied force, speed, etc, in real applications. Integrating TVAN and SPAN, the formed E‐Skin achieves holistic touch awareness in only a single unit. It can thoroughly perceive an object through a simple touch without strictly controlled testing conditions, realize the capability to discern surface roughness from 0.8 to 1600 µm, hardness from 6HA to 85HD, and correctly distinguish 16 objects with temperature variance from 0 to 80 °C. The E‐skin also features a simple and scalable fabrication process, which can be integrated into various devices for broad applications.