A Highly Sensitive Self-Powered Flex Sensor for Prosthetic Arm and Interpreting Gesticulation

Abstract

Herein, a self-powered flex sensor (SPFS) based on triboelectric nanogenerator is newly presented for detecting finger bending motion and hand gestures to be used in prosthetic arm and robotic applications. Drawn inspiration from the human skin dermis-epidermis intermesh structure, the fabricated flex sensor was designed with a random microstructure on triboelectric material surface, resulting in a high sensitivity of 0. 77 VkPa-1 and high stability (>100,000 loading-unloading cycles). The proposed self-powered flex sensor was successfully demonstrated in the real-time applications such as interpreting gesticulation and precise control of the wireless bionic arm.