Recently, the Center for Robotics and Systems at the Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, published a paper titled "High-Resolution Carbon-Based Tactile Sensor Array for Dynamic Pulse Imaging" in the journal “Advanced Functional Materials”. This work developed a high-density, flexible tactile sensor array based on a pressure-sensitive tunneling mechanism. The research team deposited patterned arrays of conformal graphene nanowalls (GNWs) on a silicon substrate with a micropyramidal structure using a mask-assisted plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) method, employing them as pressure-sensitive electrodes that exhibited high sensitivity (222.36 kPa？1) and a wide pressure range (1 MPa). The sensor array exhibits high-resolution capabilities, including high spatial resolution (64 sensors/cm2), temporal resolution (response time of 2 ms), and pressure resolution (1/1000). Furthermore, the HfO？ tunneling layer effectively suppresses noise current, achieving a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 36.32 dB. High-resolution flexible tactile array integrated into a robotic dexterous hand enable high-quality 3D morphological reproduction of pulse waves. This work not only demonstrates the excellent performance of flexible high-resolution tactile sensor array in the 3D dynamic reconstruction of pulse waves, but also provides technical support for the future development of smart medical diagnostics.

Xin Tian and Guanyin Cheng, graduate students at the Center for Robotics Technology and Systems, are the first authors of this paper, with researcher Dapeng Wei as the corresponding author. This work demonstrates the broad application potential of high-resolution tactile sensing arrays in remote intelligent diagnosis and has been supported by the Chongqing Science and Technology Bureau, the Tibet Autonomous Region Science and Technology Department, and the Chongqing Talent Program.

Link: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202406022

3D Pulse Wave Imaging System