2026-07-24 ノースカロライナ州立大学（NC State）
Wearable, multimodal sensor that detects gaseous, aerosolized, and aqueous environmental toxins and alerts the wearer via unique haptic feedback codes. Image: Baha Erim Uzunoğlu
＜関連情報＞
- https://news.ncsu.edu/2026/07/wearable-patch-vibrates-when-it-detects-environmental-hazards/
- https://www.cell.com/device/abstract/S2666-9986(26)00197-3
人間およびロボット用途向けの触覚通信機能を備えたマルチモーダルウェアラブルセンサー Multimodal, wearable sensors with tactile communication capabilities for human and robotic applications
Baha Erim Uzunoğlu ∙ Oluwatobi Ojuade ∙ Kayla Hepler ∙ … ∙ Charles Dhong ∙ Lilian C. Hsiao ∙ Amay J. Bandodkar
Device Published:July 24, 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.device.2026.101245
Highlights
- A modular, multi-analyte wearable sensor with tactile-based communication capabilities
- Engineered skin-device interfaces for tailored tactile perception
- A tactile language for communication with both human and robotic systems
Summary
We demonstrate a multimodal, wearable device with haptics-based communication that enables wearers to perceive environmental hazards through vibrations. The device monitors gaseous, aerosolized, and aqueous contaminants and conveys threshold events via distinct tactile codes. Energy harvesting with low-power sensing methods yields a high-fidelity system with day-long operation. Communication can be extended from humans to robots by engineering a soft electronic skin (e-skin) incorporating an array of transducers embedded in silicone that resolves the temporal structure of the tactile codes. On a quadrupedal robot, the e-skin decodes haptic sequences to trigger adaptive re-routing upon detecting chemical hazards, bypassing the need for wireless communication. Our approach introduces a framework in which chemical awareness is communicated physically rather than electronically, opening opportunities for embodied intelligence, distributed sensing, and human-robot interactions.
