Touch, press and stroke: a soft capacitive sensor skin.

Soft sensors that can discriminate shear and normal force could help provide machines the fine control desirable for safe and effective physical interactions with people. A capacitive sensor is made for this purpose, composed of patterned elastomer and containing both fixed and sliding pillars that allow the sensor to deform and buckle, much like skin itself. The sensor differentiates between simultaneously applied normal force and shear using summation and differences of signals from four deformable capacitors.

Intrinsically Stretchable Integrated Passive Matrix Electrochromic Display Using PEDOT:PSS Ionic Liquid Composite.

The low power consumption of electrochromism makes it widely used in actively shaded windows and mirrors, while flexible versions are attractive for use in wearable devices. Initial demonstration of stretchable electrochromic elements promises good conformability to complex surfaces. Here, fully integrated intrinsically stretchable electrochromic devices are demonstrated as single elements and 3 × 3 displays.

Piezoionic mechanoreceptors: Force-induced current generation in hydrogels.

The human somatosensory network relies on ionic currents to sense, transmit, and process tactile information. We investigate hydrogels that similarly transduce pressure into ionic currents, forming a piezoionic skin. As in rapid- and slow-adapting mechanoreceptors, piezoionic currents can vary widely in duration, from milliseconds to hundreds of seconds.

Bend, stretch, and touch: Locating a finger on an actively deformed transparent sensor array.

The development of bendable, stretchable, and transparent touch sensors is an emerging technological goal in a variety of fields, including electronic skin, wearables, and flexible handheld devices. Although transparent tactile sensors based on metal mesh, carbon nanotubes, and silver nanowires demonstrate operation in bent configurations, we present a technology that extends the operation modes to the sensing of finger proximity including light touch during active bending and even stretching. This is accomplished using stretchable and ionically conductive hydrogel electrodes, which project electric field above the sensor to couple with and sense a finger.