Self-Healing and Highly Stretchable Electronic Skin for Soft Robots

Abstract

We introduce a self-healing and exceptionally stretchable electronic skin designed for use in artificial soft robots. The hybrid substrate not only attains a maximum strain at break exceeding 2000% but also achieves a 99% full-healing rate within 10 seconds at room temperature (RT). Furthermore, we demonstrate the integration of this innovative electronic skin into soft pneumatic grippers, showcasing in situ tactile pressure sensing capabilities. Notably, the healing time for damage inflicted by an 18-gauge needle at room temperature is less than 1 minute.