Self-rerouting sensor network for electronic skin resilient to severe damage

We propose a network architecture for electronic skin with an extensive sensor array—crucial for enabling robots to perceive their environment and interact effectively with humans. Fault tolerance is essential for electronic skins on robot exteriors. Although self-healing electronic skins targeting minor damages are studied using material-based approaches, substantial damages such as severe cuts necessitate re-establishing communication pathways, traditionally performed with high-functionality microprocessor sensor nodes. However, this method is costly, increases latency, and boosts power usage, limiting scalability for large, nuanced sensation-mimicking sensor arrays. Our proposed system features sensor nodes consisting of only a few dozen logic circuits, enabling them to autonomously reconstruct reading pathways. These nodes can adapt to topological changes within the sensor network caused by disconnections and reconnections. Testing confirms rapid reading times of only a few microseconds and power consumption of 1.88 μW/node at a 1 kHz sampling rate. This advancement significantly boosts robots’ collaborative potential with humans. Severe damage to electronic skins typically requires extensive sensor arrays to restore communication pathways. Here, the authors present a cost-effective and efficient sensor network architecture that autonomously re-routes signals after damage, enabling rapid data readout with minimal power consumption.