Gradient-interlayer–based flexible pressure sensors for high-performance robotic perception
5 affiliations
- 1Institute of Humanoid Robots, School of Engineering Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China.
- 2School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
- 3College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Soochow University, Suzhou 215000, China.
- 4School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales 2522, Australia.
- 5School of Automation, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710072, China.
Abstract
Tactile perception systems based on flexible pressure sensors are indispensable for humanoid robots to perform dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction, and operation in visually challenging environments. Although strategies relying on surface or spatial microstructure engineering have improved sensor performance, the long-standing trade-off among sensitivity, sensing range, and linearity continues to hinder their practical deployment. Inspired by the gradient distribution of mechanoreceptors in human fingertip skin, we report a gradient-interlayer-based flexible iontronic pressure sensor (GriFIPS) in which a single direct-ink-written elastomeric mesh-like interlayer, with a centrifugal increase in aperture size, is placed between the soft electrode and an ionic hydrogel layer. Operating upstream of the functional layer, the mesh enables progressive, stage-wise contact under increasing load and decouples macroscopic contact-area evolution from the microscopic interfacial response. The sensor simultaneously achieves a sensitivity of 175.9 kPa⁻¹, a linear sensing range up to 360 kPa with a coefficient of determination of 0.997, a low detection limit of about 2.1 Pa, and a response time of about 25 ms, while remaining stable over 6000 loading cycles and 2000 cycles of 50% tensile strain. Building on this single-channel device, we further extend the architecture into a 3-axis gradient-interlayer-based flexible iontronic force sensor (3-axis GriFIFS) capable of resolving triaxial forces and surface textures. When integrated onto a dexterous robotic hand and combined with a temporal convolutional network, the sensors support tactile object recognition, fabric texture discrimination, human-robot interaction, and tactile-guided assembly, offering a generalizable route to tactile sensing for embodied intelligence.
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BibTeX
@article{sun2026gradientinterlayerbased,
title = {{Gradient-interlayer–based flexible pressure sensors for high-performance robotic perception}},
author = {Mingyuan Sun and Gang Ma and Shuai Dong and Erlong Wang and Shi-Yang Tang and Xuanhan Chen and Yipu Guo and Xiaoqin Sun and Xiangpeng Li and Weihua Li and Shiwu Zhang},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aej9537},
url = {https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aej9537},
note = {CC BY-NC},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Gradient-interlayer–based flexible pressure sensors for high-performance robotic perception
AU - Mingyuan Sun
AU - Gang Ma
AU - Shuai Dong
AU - Erlong Wang
AU - Shi-Yang Tang
AU - Xuanhan Chen
AU - Yipu Guo
AU - Xiaoqin Sun
AU - Xiangpeng Li
AU - Weihua Li
AU - Shiwu Zhang
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aej9537
UR - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aej9537
AB - Tactile perception systems based on flexible pressure sensors are indispensable for humanoid robots to perform dexterous manipulation, compliant interaction, and operation in visually challenging environments. Although strategies relying on surface or spatial microstructure engineering have improved sensor performance, the long-standing trade-off among sensitivity, sensing range, and linearity continues to hinder their practical deployment. Inspired by the gradient distribution of mechanoreceptors in human fingertip skin, we report a gradient-interlayer-based flexible iontronic pressure sensor (GriFIPS) in which a single direct-ink-written elastomeric mesh-like interlayer, with a centrifugal increase in aperture size, is placed between the soft electrode and an ionic hydrogel layer. Operating upstream of the functional layer, the mesh enables progressive, stage-wise contact under increasing load and decouples macroscopic contact-area evolution from the microscopic interfacial response. The sensor simultaneously achieves a sensitivity of 175.9 kPa⁻¹, a linear sensing range up to 360 kPa with a coefficient of determination of 0.997, a low detection limit of about 2.1 Pa, and a response time of about 25 ms, while remaining stable over 6000 loading cycles and 2000 cycles of 50% tensile strain. Building on this single-channel device, we further extend the architecture into a 3-axis gradient-interlayer-based flexible iontronic force sensor (3-axis GriFIFS) capable of resolving triaxial forces and surface textures. When integrated onto a dexterous robotic hand and combined with a temporal convolutional network, the sensors support tactile object recognition, fabric texture discrimination, human-robot interaction, and tactile-guided assembly, offering a generalizable route to tactile sensing for embodied intelligence.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -