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Thin-Film Transistor Based Active Taxel for Multimode Tactile Perception and Fused Processing
Sihao Wu1,2, Zheng Zhou1,2, Aoran Xu1,2
1School of Integrated Circuits, Peking University, Beijing, China.
Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
|June 17, 2026
Summary
Researchers developed advanced artificial skin using thin-film transistor (TFT) technology for intelligent robots. This novel active multimode fused (AMF) skin enhances tactile sensing and object recognition, paving the way for fully-wrapped robotic systems.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Materials Science
- Sensor Technology
Background:
- Human skin serves as a crucial sensory interface, inspiring the development of artificial skin for robots.
- Thin-film transistor (TFT) technology offers a mature, large-area semiconductor process suitable for artificial skin fabrication.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an active multimode fused (AMF) artificial skin using a standard TFT process for intelligent robots.
- To create a novel taxel integrating optical and electrostatic capacitive receptors for cross-modal feature extraction.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a 10x10 AMF artificial skin sample using TFT technology.
- Integration of optical and electrostatic capacitive receptors within a 2T-1C taxel design.
- Experimental validation using Braille perception and complex fingerprint tasks.
Main Results:
- The AMF artificial skin achieved high tactile robustness, maintaining 81.7% accuracy in fingerprint tasks with 45% information loss.
- A fully skin-wrapped dexterous hand demonstrated accurate texture- and shape-dependent object recognition.
- The system achieved 80% less data movement and 76.6% lower computational cost.
Conclusions:
- TFT-based artificial skin provides a viable approach for creating embodied intelligent robots with comprehensive tactile sensing.
- The developed AMF artificial skin enables efficient and robust environmental interaction for robots.
- This technology advances the development of intelligent robots with human-like sensory capabilities.
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