An Underwater Bionic Palm-Like Tactile Sensor Based on Triboelectric Nanogenerator

In an environment with poor ocean light or severe noise disturbance, there are still marine organisms can rely on the sense of touch to perceive their surroundings. This is a non-acoustic, and non-optical perception method. By contrast, the current autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV) has not fully developed similar capabilities to achieve this perception. So, we designed a selfpowered underwater palm-like tactile sensor (UPTS) based on the triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG), it can collect information about the target object through direct contact. The structure of UPTS includes a flexible cover, five sensor units based on triboelectric nanogenerator, flexible support and fixed frame. The biomimetic neural structure that generates electricity acts as a tactile receptor to provide sensory signals to realize tactile perception functions. The tactile sensor is capable of detecting the external load magnitude independent of the contact frequency's influence. Additionally, UPTS exhibits high sensitivity, strong real-time performance and fast feedback. The experimental results show that UPTS enriches the tactile perception system of the AUV, follow-up may help AUV to complete underwater tasks better.