SUMMARY
UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have developed flexible pressure-sensors that can mimic slow-adapting type I mechanoreceptors used for human-like object manipulation.
BACKGROUND
Flexible pressure sensors that mimic slow-adapting type I (SA-I) mechanoreceptors are essential for AI, smart robotics and prosthetics to realize human-like levels of object manipulation. SA-I mechanoreceptors, which are used to perceive form and roughness on the skin, have small receptive fields and produce sustained responses to static stimulation. Current commercial piezoresistive pressure sensors are generally fabricated using unstructured film made of PDMS/graphite, exhibiting low sensitivity, large hysteresis, large compounding temperature effects, and low-level tunability. For human-like levels of object manipulation, new robust flexible pressure sensors with fast response time, low operating voltage and high sensitivity are needed.
INNOVATION
UCLA researchers in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry have developed a flexible pressure-sensing device that mimics SA-I mechanoreceptors. The device utilizes conductive micropyramids comprised of polydimethylsiloxane and carbon nanotubes (PDMS/CNT), for a highly sensitive and robust flexible pressure sensor with fast response and low operating voltage. The sensors have a combination of high sensitivity in both low- (< 10 kPa) and medium- (10-100 kPa) pressure regime, fast response time, high mechanical robustness, low operating voltage, low power consumption, linear response, and low hysteresis in the medium-pressure regime.
POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS
- Pressure mapping
- Electronic skin (E-Skin)
- Artificial intelligence (AI) robotics
- Amputee prosthetics
ADVANTAGES
- Highly Sensitive
- Robust
- Fast response time
- Low operating voltage
- Low power consumption
- Tunable
- Uniform
- Scalable
- Large-area pressure sensing array
RELATED MATERIALS
- Ma, C.; Xu, D.; Huang, Y-C.; Wang, P.; Huang, J.; Zhou, J.; Liu, W.; Li, S-T.; Huang, Y.; Duan, X. “Robust Flexible Pressure Sensors Made from Conductive Micropyramids for Manipulation Tasks”ACS Nano 2020 14 (10), 12866-12876. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c03659
STATUS OF DEVELOPMENT
The optimized pressure sensor has been developed and used to construct a wearable pressure sensing system that can convert pressure to wirelessly transmittable frequency signals (spikes) with nearly linear response.