Artificial Touch Perception with Piezoresistive Nanoparticles Films

Gady Konvalina, Chemical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel
Meital Segev-Bar, Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute, Technion, Haifa, Israel
Hossam Haick, Chemical Engineering, Technion, Haifa, Israel

With the global trend of "smart" objects artificial perception of the environment based on sensorial inputs is becoming more and more important. Currently, computers, robots and smart objects “perceive” the world mainly by seeing (via camera) and hearing (via microphone), but lack the ability of feeling touch. Yet, an increasing variety of objects are being designed to come into direct physical contact with us and our surroundings and to perform interactions that are based on sensorial feedback. In the case of direct physical interaction touch sensation is highly advantageous over the widely used visual and audio sensations. Touch sensation gives direct information on the contact between the smart object and whatever comes into contact with it, enabling almost instant feedback on the nature of the contact.

Enabling wide spread use of touch sensation in smart objects requires technologies that are cheap, with higher resolutions, low power consumption, low data transfer volumes and such that conform to changeable form factors (e.g. flexible patch configuration). This talk will present a new technology of touch sensitive smart patches, which are wearable, flexible sensing arrays that sense external stimuli, such as force or pressure, in a manner similar to human skin that addresses these needs. These patches are analog touch-sensitive flexible surfaces based on piezoresistive nanoparticles films that have very high tactile resolution and fast readout times that match, and even exceed, human fingertip touch sensation. This patented architecture enables to detect tens of milligrams with sub-millimeter location resolution. Compared to other common technologies it require smaller data readout volumes (at least one order of magnitude smaller than currently available patches), low power consumption, low operating voltage (~1 volt) and can be fabricated using low-cost printed electronic manufacturing processes. These features place this technology at the forefront of today's tactile smart patch market.