Flexible and wearable tactile sensor ‘offers varied potential’

Singaporean engineers have created a wearable liquid-based microfluidic tactile sensor with potential applications in medicine and numerous other fields.

Created at the National University of Singapore, the sensor is small, thin, highly flexible and durable, as well as being simple and cost-effective to produce.

It is fabricated on a flexible substrate like silicone rubber, and uses non-corrosive, non-toxic 2D nanomaterial suspension in liquid form to detect pressure and recognise force-induced changes.

Even after being subjected to extreme mechanical force, such as running a car tyre over it, it produced a highly uniform electrical output, with no damage to its functionality.

The team believe it could be used for applications such as soft robotics, wearable consumer electronics, smart medical prosthetic devices and real-time healthcare monitoring.

Professor Lim Chwee Teck from the National University of Singapore's department of biomedical engineering said: "With the rapid advancement of healthcare and biomedical technologies as well as consumer electronics, we are optimistic about new possibilities to commercialise our invention."