Body-coupled minimalist human-machine interface for multifunctional touch detection

Human-machine interfaces (HMI) are of paramount importance as they serve as essential conduits between humans and the digital realm. However, contemporary designs suffer from the following issues: large number of electrodes, complex wiring, redundant data, and high power consumption. This work proposes a body-coupled minimalist human-machine interface for multifunctional touch detection (BM-HMI). The configuration of gradient resistive elements in the S-shape, in conjunction with a detection strategy founded upon the ratio of relative signal amplitudes, facilitates the effective detection of signals across a range of touch and sliding operations utilizing a mere two sensing electrodes. The experimental results demonstrate that the BM-HMI requires no battery, has remarkable stability (over 400,000 cycles), structural simplicity, rapid response time (approximately 5 ms), ultra-low detection threshold (below 0.04 N), robustness, and high scalability. This work presents a novel concept, demonstrating considerable potential for application in smart wearable devices, mixed reality systems, and ubiquitous sensing terminals.