Comfortable strain gages can be directly placed on human skin to monitor continuous motion activity with widespread applications in robotics, human motion detection, and personal health care. However, it is challenging to develop an on-skin strain gage to monitor long-term human body motions without disturbing the natural movement of skin. In a new report now on Science Advances, Yan Wang, and a team of scientists in electrical engineering at the University of Tokyo and the Center for Emergent Matter Science in Japan presented an ultrathin and durable nanomesh strain gage. The device allowed continuous motion activity to minimize the mechanical constraints on natural skin motion. They engineered the device using reinforced polyurethane-polydimethylsiloxane (PU-PDMS) nanomeshes for excellent sustainability and durability. The geometry and softness of the device provided minimal mechanical interference for natural skin deformations. During speech tests, for instance, the nanomesh-attached face showed skin strain mapping similar to natural skin without nanomeshes. Wang et al. demonstrated long-term facial mapping to detect real-time, stable body movements with surface-bound nanomesh sensors.
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Source: Phys.org