Combinatorial Bionic Hierarchical Flexible Strain Sensor for Sign Language Recognition with Machine Learning.

Journal: ACS applied materials & interfaces
PMID:

Abstract

Flexible strain sensors have been widely researched in fields such as smart wearables, human health monitoring, and biomedical applications. However, achieving a wide sensing range and high sensitivity of flexible strain sensors simultaneously remains a challenge, limiting their further applications. To address these issues, a cross-scale combinatorial bionic hierarchical design featuring microscale morphology combined with a macroscale base to balance the sensing range and sensitivity is presented. Inspired by the combination of serpentine and butterfly wing structures, this study employs three-dimensional printing, prestretching, and mold transfer processes to construct a combinatorial bionic hierarchical flexible strain sensor (CBH-sensor) with serpentine-shaped inverted-V-groove/wrinkling-cracking structures. The CBH-sensor has a high wide sensing range of 150% and high sensitivity with a gauge factor of up to 2416.67. In addition, it demonstrates the application of the CBH-sensor array in sign language gesture recognition, successfully identifying nine different sign language gestures with an impressive accuracy of 100% with the assistance of machine learning. The CBH-sensor exhibits considerable promise for use in enabling unobstructed communication between individuals who use sign language and those who do not. Furthermore, it has wide-ranging possibilities for use in the field of gesture-driven interactions in human-computer interfaces.

Authors

  • Xuanjie Zong
    Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China.
  • Nianqiang Zhang
    Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China.
  • Jilai Wang
    Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China.
  • Hangfan Zong
    Health Management Institute, The Second Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing, China, 100853.
  • Chengpeng Zhang
    Key Laboratory of High Efficiency and Clean Mechanical Manufacture of Ministry of Education, School of Mechanical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250061, China.
  • Guogang Xu
    Health Management Institute, The Second Medical Center, Chinese PLA General Hospital, 28 Fuxing Road, Beijing, China, 100853.