Optoelectronically innervated soft prosthetic hand via stretchable optical waveguides.

Area of Science:

• Robotics and Soft Actuation
• Biomedical Engineering
• Materials Science and Photonics

Background:

• Fluidically powered soft actuators are promising for prosthetics and orthotics due to natural motion.
• Existing stretchable electronic sensors face challenges like hysteresis, fabrication complexity, and material incompatibility.
• Optical signal transduction offers a potential solution to overcome the limitations of electrical sensors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate stretchable optical waveguides for strain sensing in soft robotic applications.
• To demonstrate the integration of these photonic sensors into a soft prosthetic hand for advanced tactile feedback.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of stretchable optical waveguides for optoelectronic strain sensing.
• Integration of photonic strain sensors as curvature, elongation, and force sensors into a fiber-reinforced soft prosthetic hand.
• Testing the prosthetic hand's ability to perform active sensation experiments, including object manipulation and ripeness detection.

Main Results:

• The developed optoelectronic strain sensors are easy to fabricate, chemically inert, and exhibit low hysteresis and high precision.
• Photonic sensors successfully functioned as curvature, elongation, and force sensors within the soft prosthetic hand.
• The integrated prosthetic hand demonstrated sophisticated active sensation capabilities, including distinguishing tomato ripeness.

Conclusions:

• Stretchable optical waveguides provide a robust and effective platform for strain sensing in soft robotics.
• Optoelectronic sensors overcome key limitations of traditional stretchable electronic sensors, enabling advanced prosthetic functionality.
• This technology paves the way for more sophisticated and human-like capabilities in prosthetic and robotic systems.