Scalable in-situ fabrication of multimodal electronic skin for intelligent robotics and interactive systems

Tactile sensing is a foundational technology for developing intelligent interactive systems across robotics, wearable devices, and human-machine interfaces. Despite progress in highly sensitive and multifunctional soft sensors, conventional multimodal platforms suffer from limited scalability and customization due to dependencies on complex cleanroom processes and labor-intensive assembly. Therefore, this study proposes a multimodal e-skin platform fabricated through a scalable, in-situ, and cleanroom-free strategy that integrates microporous-dielectric capacitive tactile sensors with UV-laser-patterned flexible circuitry in a single low-profile system. The approach facilitates rapid, application-specific layout design, enabling modular co-location of deformable pressure and bending sensors alongside compact IC modules for thermal and non-contact proximity sensing. In a representative robotic-gripper demonstration, microporous-dielectric pressure and bending sensors are integrated in a task-specific layout to match local contact geometry and functional demands. Additional validation across diverse applications, including robotic grippers, interactive toys, and pressure-mapping arrays, highlights the platform’s adaptability and its system-level capacity to integrate seamlessly with tailored multimodal e-skin prototyping for complex real-world tasks.