Wearable Multifunctional Sensors for Human Activity Recognition

Driven by the profound convergence of the Internet of Things (IoT) and ubiquitous computing, wearable multifunctional sensors have emerged as a key technology for high-precision human activity recognition (HAR). Advancements in novel materials and flexible electronics have propelled the evolution of these sensors, enabling advances in decoupling heterogeneous signals, enhancing system robustness, and expanding environmental perception. This review systematically examines the frontier research on wearable multifunctional sensors for HAR. We provide an in-depth analysis of three core architectural design paradigms: architecture-level integration, which relies on physical spatial isolation for hardware-level signal decoupling; monolithic integration, which strives for extreme spatial compactness and spatiotemporal signal consistency; and the emerging intrinsically multifunctional design, which leverages novel stimuli-responsive materials for the intrinsic orthogonal discrimination of multidimensional signals. Furthermore, we delineate the diverse application scenarios of these highly integrated sensing platforms across medical rehabilitation, sports science, human-computer interaction (HCI), and daily behavior perception. Finally, this article discusses the critical challenges currently confronting this technology and outlines its future development prospects.