Directly Visualizing Tactile Perception and Ultrasensitive Tactile Sensors by Utilizing Body-Enhanced Induction of Ambient Electromagnetic Waves

摘要

Tactile recognition is a critical technology for many applications. Here, it is found that the ambient electromagnetic signal, which is usually regarded as electromagnetic noise, can be a good triggering source to realize tactile detection. A circuit consisting of two light emitting diodes (LEDs) is designed as sensor unit and human contact can amplify the electrostatic signal induced by electromagnetic wave in this circuit, which enhances the brightness of the LEDs. Hence, visualizing tactile perception can be achieved based on this strategy. Accordingly, a stretchable and semi-transparent sensor matrix is established for mapping detailed contact positions, on which the contact force can be smaller than 0.001 N. The detection and the visualization of sliding trajectory and pressure change are also demonstrated by using this sensory method, indicating its good applicability for different purposes. Electromagnetic wave universally exists in the working places and tactile sensors based on this strategy can be possibly applied to many fields such as factory automation, intelligent robotics, human-machine interaction, etc.