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

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.

Recent Progress in Micro‐Supercapacitor Design, Integration, and Functionalization

“…Compared to the parallel‐fiber supercapacitor, the configuration of twisted‐fiber supercapacitors without substrate enable electrodes close together, improving the ion transport efficiency. Generally, they can be either co‐woven with themselves or knitted into existing fabrics/textiles . As an example, the pristine carbon fiber is a candidate material for FSC but its low specific surface area is the main limitation.…”

Novel Flexible Triboelectric Nanogenerator based on Metallized Porous PDMS and Parylene C

“…Flexible, wearable electronics have attracted plenty of research and technology attention owing to their advantageous properties over rigid electronic systems and devices of softness, lightweight, comfort, and adaptability [1][2][3][4]. Combining these features with functional materials and specific architectures has led to the employment of flexible devices for several applications, e.g., physiological monitoring and chemical sensing [5][6][7][8][9], soft robotics [10][11][12], energy harvesting [13][14][15][16][17], and motion detection [18][19][20]. The recently increasing importance of self-powered electronics has led to the development of integrated systems with energy harvesting technologies.…”

Stretchable sensors for environmental monitoring

“…This emerging technology was invented to convert electronics that have traditionally been constrained to rigid and planar formats into the next generation which are bendable, compressible, stretchable, or formable into desired three-dimensional (3D) shapes and is leading a global revolution in electronic applications such as sensors and actuators, [19][20][21][22][23][24][25] energy harvesting and storage, [26][27][28] lighting, [29][30][31] and medical and healthcare. [32][33][34][35][36] Because they can be integrated with soft materials and curvilinear surfaces, stretchable electronics will provide the foundation for applications that exceed the scope of conventional semiconductors and PCB technologies. To accommodate mechanical deformation during stretching while maintaining the electrical performance and reliability of the system, either the materials or the structures need to be stretchable.…”