Electronic skin (e‐skin) integrating pressure sensors and strain sensors has shown great potential applications in smart robotics and healthcare monitoring for their flexibility and wearability. However, making the sensor low cost and highly durable for industrialization and commercialization is still a problem to be addressed. An embedded 3D printing technology is developed based on novel thermosetting printing ink which is prepared using the Ecoflex and carbon nanoparticles. The properties of the printing ink including printability and electrical conductivity are first studied and then optimized. By using this technology, a glove‐shaped e‐skin integrating both strain sensors and pressure sensors is fabricated, and the properties of the sensors are studied. Both types of sensors have excellent stability and reliability which are verified by multiple long‐term measurements (10 000 testing cycles). Specifically, the sensors possess a great shock resistance and high durability which are significant for application in real life. Furthermore, some applications for human activity monitoring and personal healthcare are demonstrated, including complex gesture recognition using 15 strain sensors, hardness sensing using pressure sensors coupled with strain sensors, and arterial pulse measurement using pressure sensors, which are promising for smart robotic sensing and wearable biomedical devices.
A stable flexible pressure array sensor is a key point for the development of smart robotics and prosthetic solutions. Traditional flexible pressure sensors are mainly based on piezoresistive, capacitive, and piezoelectric effect. However, pressure array sensors based on these principles need complicated wire links and complex fabrication processes. In addition, sensors based on capacitors are susceptible to interference, while piezoresistive sensors have drift problems. In this paper, a vision‐based flexible device integrating a transparent substrate with a black micropillar array is proposed. An image sensor is introduced to measure pillar sectional‐area variation caused by external pressure. Low‐cost precision machining is used to make the mold which avoids complex fabrication process in terms of lithography process. Fabricating micropillars and substrate respectively with Ecoflex gel and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) implies adhesion of two polymer materials. The sensor demonstrates a considerable pressure sensitivity of 0.133 kPa−1 in the pressure range 0–3 kPa owing to the softness of Ecoflex gel. Application in high‐density pressure distribution measurement such as braille reading and shape recognition is presented. The device is also believed to have promising potential applications in wearable devices, for example, arterial pulse signal measurements.
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