The joint team from Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and the University of Ulsan can sense pressure even when it is stretched in different directions. Its inventors said it could be used in a number of electronics applications including VR/AR systems and human-machine interfaces.
According to a report in Hackster, The technology is based on how crocodiles sense prey in the water. Crocodiles sense prey using "sensory bumps" located beneath the wrinkled surface of their skin. These bumps sense the feeling of waves, allowing the animal to know when the surface of the water has been disturbed by potential prey.
The sensory bumps are connected via natural "hinges" which allow the animal to stretch or relax the skin without triggering the sensors. The new technology uses a combination of short and long nanowires to mimic the crocodile skin.
The crocodile skin design means that the synthetic skin can be stretched to double its length in a single direction or up to half its size again in two directions without losing its pressure sensitivity.
"This is a wearable pressure sensor that effectively detects pressure even when under tensile strain," says Kilwon Cho, professor at POSTECH who led the project. "It could be used for diverse applications such as pressure sensors of prosthetics, electronic skin of soft robotics, VR [Virtual Reality], AR [Augmented Reality], and human-machine interfaces."
The team's findings have been published in the journal Small.