A Review of Flexible Mechanics Mapping: The Sensing, Transmission, Computation, and Integration Paradigm

As the sensory foundation for the rapidly evolving era of embodied intelligence and the Internet of Things, Flexible Mechanics Mapping (FMM) is transcending traditional single-point detection to enable the high-fidelity, distributed capture of pressure, strain, and torque across complex, irregular surfaces. Moving beyond isolated device optimization, this review presents a holistic analysis governed by the unified Sensing-Transmission-Computation-Integration (STCI) paradigm. In the sensing domain, we critically evaluate the mature landscape of electrical multiunit arrays driven by hybrid mechanisms and functional materials like gels, fibers, and MXenes against the emerging mechano-optical sensing pathway, which utilizes metasurfaces and mechanoluminescent materials to achieve lead-free operation and diffraction-limited resolution. The review further bridges the physical-digital divide by analyzing strategies for high-fidelity signal transmission and highlighting the transformative role of artificial intelligence in decoding temporal sequences and reconstructing super-resolution mechanical images from massive sensor data. Finally, system-level breakthroughs in multimodal fusion, implantable biointerfaces, and closed-loop ″sense-decide-act″ haptic systems are explored, concluding with a strategic roadmap to overcome current bottlenecks and accelerate the real-world deployment of intelligent, skin-like perception.