Flexible Tactile Sensors for Enhancing Robotic Perception

Abstract

As robotic technology advances towards autonomy and intelligence, tactile sensing systems have become a key technology for overcoming the bottleneck of environmental interaction. Unlike visual perception, which captures macroscopic information, tactile sensing provides precise mechanical feedback for robotic manipulation by real-time analysis of microscopic physical parameters such as contact force, material properties, and surface morphology. This is particularly important in application scenarios that require high precision in force control, such as minimally invasive surgery and precision assembly, where the sensitivity, multimodal perception capabilities, and environmental adaptability of tactile sensors directly determine the operational performance of the robotic system. However, traditional tactile sensors are limited by rigid structures, limited sensitivity, and a single perception modality, making it difficult to meet the demands of complex interactions. In recent years, breakthroughs in flexible electronic materials, biomimetic microstructure design, and multimodal sensing integration technologies have provided innovative opportunities for tactile sensing systems. This review provides a detailed overview of the key technological advancements in tactile sensors and their applications in robotic surfaces, analyzes the major challenges currently faced, and looks ahead to future development directions, particularly the potential in flexible materials and intelligent algorithms.

Received: 25 March 2025 | Revised: 26 May 2025 | Accepted: 28 May 2025

Conflicts of Interest

PingAn Hu is the Editor-in-Chief for Smart Wearable Technology and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to this work.

Data Availability Statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study.

Author Contribution Statement

Huiwen Ren: Conceptualization, Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Wangyang Li: Methodology, Software, Validation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Yanan Ding: Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Yuming Feng: Writing – original draft. Hexin Li: Resources, Data curation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Visualization. Jianyang Li: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Jia Zhang: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Haiying Xiao: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Jialu Li: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing. Shuai Wang: Writing – original draft. Cong Huang: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. Li Jiang: Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision. PingAn Hu: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Funding acquisition.