Skin-inspired tactile sensor based on gradient pore structure enable broad range response and ultrahigh pressure resolution

Tactile sensing is highly essential for the dexterous manipulation of robots. Nevertheless, the existed tactile sensors fail to realize high sensitivity and pressure resolution in a large pressure range, simultaneously. To concern this issue, we present a skin-structure inspired strategy to prepare gradient pore microstructure (GPS) films which thus have gradient elastic modulus along film thickness direction, similar to the dermis of skin. The tactile sensors made of this GPS films show an improved sensitivity of 3.74 kPa −1, an ultrahigh pressure resolution of 0.06% and broad range response of 0–800 kPa because of high structural compressibility and stress adaptation characteristics of GPS film. Meanwhile, the sensors achieve a fast response time of 15 ms and a low detection limit of 1.65 Pa as well as good cycle stability. Further, an 8 × 8 sensors array shows a performance of accurate real-time pressure mapping. Therefore, GPS-based sensors provide a new avenue to realize high-performance tactile perception in the artificial intelligence equipment.