Magnetized Microcilia Array‐Based Self‐Powered Electronic Skin for Micro‐Scaled 3D Morphology Recognition and High‐capacity Communication

Abstract Electronic skin (e‐skin), which mimics the tactile perception as human skin, is of interest to advance robotics, prosthetics, and human‐machine interactions (HMI). However, the construction of artificial e‐skin with the simulated function of morphology recognition and stimuli response remains challenging. Here, the design of a multifunctional and self‐powered e‐skin system based on the whisker‐like magnetized micro‐cilia array (MMCA) and the underneath flexible coils is reported. Owing to the excellent flexibility of the MMCA, the adaptive micro‐cilia bending can be produced according to the tactile inputs or surface morphologies. With built‐in magnetic moments, the MMCA deformation thus alters the magnetic flux distribution, which induces an electromotive force (voltage) in the coils for pressure detection and quantitative recognition of micro‐scaled 3D morphologies. It is shown that using the distinct voltage intensities and waveforms, the optimized e‐skin can be applied for real‐time healthcare monitoring, Braille identification, and reconstruction of relief information. By customizing the magnetic moment alignments in MMCA, one e‐skin device can further produce distinguishable signals to build up multi‐commands for efficient HMI, e.g., underwater Morse code communication. Along with temperature tolerance and environmental immunity, the e‐skin exhibits the potential to serve as an effective channel for intelligent 3D topology recognition and high‐capacity communications.