\u201cThis approach democratizes the production of medical-grade e-skins, making advanced tactile feedback viable for widespread clinical adoption,\u201d said Hongyi Shen, graduate student in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and first author on the paper. \u201cThis work lays a crucial foundation for a full bionic skin with both sensing and haptic stimulation functions on prosthetics.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_4908-768x1024.jpeg\")
A robotic hand fitted with 3D-printed sensor module developed by the research team. (Photo by Sravanthi Yalamanchili\/WSU)<\/p>\n
Haptic stimulation replicates the sense of touch. Providing even partial sensation for amputees could greatly improve their ability to perform tasks. While there are electronic skins available now, they are expensive and have low sensing resolution. They also often don\u2019t fit people well and only cover small regions. In fact, the more that e-skins are made to a custom shape, the worse they perform in sensing ability. Furthermore, the large amount of data generated from the sensing arrays mean that they don\u2019t work well in real-time.<\/p>\n
\u201cOften these devices are forced to compromise between comfort and mechanical reliability,\u201d said Shen.<\/p>\n
The WSU researchers developed a customizable sensing system for prosthetics that conforms to the freeform shape of limbs and better mimics real human skin in its sensing abilities. The sensor modules they created are thin-layered sandwiches that incorporate temperature and pressure sensors. The elements allow human-like tactile sensing, enabling reliable identification of surface texture and material properties.<\/p>\n
The researchers used a \u201cscan-model-print\u201d manufacturing method that allows for high-density sensing at the same time as the personalized, 3D fabrication.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe scanner basically scans the prosthetic and then, based on the geometry, we map our sensors as a multimodal sensing system with that geometry,\u201d said Kaiyan Qiu, Berry Family Assistant Professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and corresponding author on the paper. \u201cThis enables our sensing system to have seamless coverage over the freeform region on the prosthetics.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sensors are accurate and reliable and can measure both pressure and temperature at a high density across a flat or curved surface. Rather than requiring adhesives, modules of sensors snap together like Legos.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur main manufacturing method using 3D printing and laser cutting is relatively simple, so it could be relatively low cost and convenient,\u201d said Qiu.<\/p>\n
The project was partially supported by WSU\u2019s National Science Foundation Research Traineeship in Next-Generation Robotics (NRT-LEAD), led by Prashanta Dutta, Richard Schneider Jr. Professor and director in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. Dutta is also a corresponding author on the paper. Additional support was provided by Qiu\u2019s WSU startup and Cougar Cage funds.<\/p>\n