Active Sensor for Multidimensional Force Detection

The sense of touch is one of the important media for humans and animals to communicate with the environment. It is critical to find a method or device that can detect the multidimensional dynamic micromechanical signals of biological soft tissues such as skin and muscle, quickly and accurately, which is essential for the development of tactile sensing technologies. Here, we demonstrate a triboelectric force sensor (TFS) that can convert the mechanical signals of the living creature's soft tissue into detectable electric signals directly. The TFS contains elastic polymer micro-column and micro-cone structures that can be used to detect normal and tangential dynamic forces quickly, accurately, and synchronously. This work aims to establish an active dynamic microforce sensing model and an overall performance index system of the TFS, which would realize the accurate detection of the mechanical properties of biological soft tissues. It analyses the influencing factors of the sensing performance of the TFS from the aspects of sensitivity, accuracy and stability. This work is intended to explore a new type of active mechanical sensing method and mechanism, and establish a universal connection between electrical outputs and relevant mechanical parameters. It may provide reference ideas and a theoretical basis for the research and development of multi-dimensional biomechanics sensors with simple structure, sensitive signals and fast response, and the exploration of bionic tactile systems.