Bioinspired electronic-skin for proximity and pressure detection in robot active sensing

Active sensing technology plays an essential role in environment-robot interactions. Inspired by the proximity sensing approach of weakly electric fish, which relies on distributed electroreceptors capable of detecting electric fields, we propose a flexible electronic skin (e-skin) for proximity and pressure detection. Conductive thermoplastic polyurethane and dielectric polyurethane are employed for fabricating flexible electrodes and substrates, respectively. An Ecoflex-based elastic layer enables proximity and pressure information to be decoupled from the electric field. The proposed e-skin can detect objects up to 160 mm away while performing real-time proximity and pressure sensing. Finally, we demonstrate that robots equipped with the e-skin can easily explore their surroundings and perform specific tasks such as recognition, avoidance, and grasping. Because of its proximity and pressure sensing capabilities and low-cost fabrication process, the e-skin has broad application potential for robot active sensing.