A Single-Wire Soft Sensor for Seamless Multimodal Tactile Sensing

Integrating sensing in a soft robot is still crucial to enable feedback response to environmental stimuli. This paper presents a single-wire soft sensor for multimodal tactile sensing designed to address the limitations of current technologies. The sensor integrates a stimulus-responsive hydrogel with a unique design that enables spatial and force sensing by leveraging changes in electromagnetic resonance properties. With a simplified structure, the sensor is fabricated with minimal wiring, maintaining flexibility and adaptability for various robotic applications. Experimental results demonstrate high accuracy in detecting contact points (up to 98%) and applied forces (96%) and a combined detection accuracy of 87%. This approach allows for distributed sensing within the robot or using the whole body as a sensing element, enhancing the system’s responsiveness to environmental stimuli and supporting advanced applications in physical intelligence.