Scientists at Virginia Commonwealth University are working on tiny 3D-printed hair-shaped sensors. Similar to the fine hairs in the nose and ear, these should be able to measure environmental influences in order to improve machines sensorially.
As PhD student Phillip Glass and Professor Daeha Joung explain in a recent publication, the artificial hairs mimic human mechanoreceptors. They respond to stimuli such as touch, movement or temperature.
According to the researchers, the 3D-printed sensors made of plastic and graphene could be used in robotic gripper arms or production machines, for example, to precisely measure pressure, temperature or flow. The sensors vary in sensitivity depending on their length.
More information: Phillip Glass et al, 3D-Printed Artificial Cilia Arrays: A Versatile Tool for Customizable Mechanosensing, Advanced Science (2023). DOI: 10.1002/advs.202303164
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