Robotic Palpation for Spatiotemporal Arterial Pulse Quantification and Mapping Using Multilevel Microdome-Based Soft...

Humanoid robots have advanced capabilities through physical and physiological examinations, but their reliance on visual information limits biological-object assessment, underscoring the need for tactile perception. Current tactile systems primarily detect basic contact using a limited number of sensors, hindering accurate soft-object localization and physiological signal acquisition. This study introduces a robotic palpation strategy by utilizing a fully soft-tactile-sensor-integrated humanoid hand for real-time spatiotemporal arterial pulse diagnosis. A facile fabrication technique produces an artificial pressure-sensitive layer with multilevel microscale dome-on-dome (DoD) structures using eutectic gallium-indium, achieving high-density (>72 500 ea/cm²) and large-area (wafer-scale >98% yield) fabrication. The DoD-integrated pressure sensor exhibits a 7.5 × enhanced dynamic response compared with a single-level sensing layer, enabling the simultaneous detection of subtle vibrations under high-pressure conditions. The artificial skin is integrated into a humanoid hand, featuring 81 sensors on the fingertip and a total of 801 sensors on the hand, allowing real-time spatiotemporal arterial pulse quantification and mapping.