A Readily Manufacturable Biomimetic Capacitive E-Skin for Sensing, Recognition, and Interactive Control in...

Electronic skins (e-skins) for robots should function not only as tactile sensors but also as soft interfaces enabling perception, recognition, and reliable interaction in electromagnetically complex environments. By mimicking the pore-canal-alveolus architecture and noncontact sensing functionality of the Ampullae of Lorenzini (AL), this work develops an AL-inspired capacitive e-skin (ALC e-skin) capable of multimodal sensing, material recognition, interactive control, and stretchable electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding within a single soft platform. The ALC e-skin is fabricated through a scalable blade-spin coating strategy that forms continuous liquid metal (LM) films on the beaded electrospun fibers. It also achieves a proximity detection range of 250 mm, a broad pressure sensing range up to 260 kPa, and excellent linearity in stretch sensing. The ALC e-skin is further used to demonstrate a robotic recognition and gripping system that accurately recognizes, grips, and sorts four objects with different materials, as well as a multimodal control board that converts proximity, touch, and pressure signals into reliable servo motor commands. Importantly, ALC e-skin provides stretchable EMI shielding, acting as a flexible Faraday cage for robotic systems. This work establishes a scalable route to multifunctional and electromagnetically robust e-skins for robots operating in complex real-world environments.