Triboelectric Flex Sensors For Sign Language Translation

Flex sensors are crucial for applications like electronic skin, gesture monitoring, and human-machine interfaces, but often require an external power source. This project introduces a highly sensitive, self-powered triboelectric flex sensor (STFS) capable of efficiently detecting finger bending and hand gestures. Inspired by the dermis-epidermis structure of human skin, the sensor utilizes randomly distributed microstructured triboelectric layers, created through a simple thermal embossing technique. This design not only achieves high sensitivity and a wide pressure detection range but also enables practical applications like real-time sign language interpretation without the need for batteries.

• Achieved a high sensitivity of 0.77 V/kPa and a rapid rise time of 83 ms.
• Demonstrated an ultrawide pressure detection range from 0.2 kPa to 500 kPa.
• Exhibited high stability and mechanical robustness for over 100,000 cycles.
• Successfully demonstrated a real-time sign language interpretation system, converting hand gestures into voice and text.

The sensor was fabricated using a cost-effective and scalable thermal embossing technique to create microstructured triboelectric layers inspired by human skin. The device's performance, including sensitivity, response time, and stability, was characterized under various loading and unloading cycles. A practical application was demonstrated by integrating the sensor into a glove for a real-time sign language interpretation system that communicates with a smartphone application.