Humanoid Robot Actuation through Precise Chemical Sensing Signals

Abstract As the need for assistive robots increases in aging societies, various assistive robot systems including humanoid robots have been developed. Humanoid robotic hands are one of the most useful parts to assist humans efficiently. While sensing pressure or temperature from the robotic hands is extensively studied, sensing chemicals is less widely studied despite the significant importance. Here, a unique platform of smartly moving humanoid fingers actuated by chemical sensing is reported. The sensor is printed with disposable and biocompatible cellulose conductive ink materials. R_f intensity change of the sensor with NH₄⁺ membrane depends on NH₄⁺ ion concentration where R² is 0.9576. The smart bending motion of a finger is accomplished by logically programed actuation through detecting the change of interested ion concentration from 0.01 to 1 m at the ion‐selective membrane electrode (ISME) sensor with resulted bending angles from 10° to 67° accordingly. The overall signal‐to‐noise ratio is over 10. This sensing robot concept may be expanded to applications of microrobots which receive external stimulus, judge, and execute the actuation to carry out programed tasks.