A hyperconformal dual-modal metaskin for well-defined and high-precision contextual interactions
Proprioception and touch serve as complementary sensory modalities to coordinate hand kinematics and recognize users' intent for precise interactions. However, current motion-tracking electronics remain bulky and insufficiently precise. Accurately decoding both is also challenging owing to the mechanical crosstalk of endogenous and exogenous deformations. Here, we report a hyperconformal dual-modal (HDM) metaskin for interactive hand motion interpretation. The metaskin integrates a strongly coupled hydrophilic interface with a two-step transfer strategy to minimize interfacial mechanical losses. The 10-μm-scale hyperconformal film is highly sensitive to intricate skin stretches while minimizing signal distortion. It accurately tracks skin stretches as well as touch locations and translates them into polar signals, which are individually salient. This approach enables a differentiable signaling topology within one single data channel without burdening structural complexity to the metaskin. When combined with temporal differential calculations and time-series machine learning network, the metaskin extracts interactive context and action cues from the low-dimensional data. This phenomenon is further exemplified through demonstrations in contextual navigation, typing and control integration, and multi-scenario object interaction. We demonstrate this fundamental approach in advanced skin-integrated electronics, highlighting its potential for instinctive interaction paradigms and paving the way for augmented somatosensation recognition.
Authors
- Zhi‐Liang Ji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1190-7655)
- Yuanjin Zheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5768-367X)
- Ziquan Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9862-1670)
- Shifan Yu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7917-6214)
- Qingliang Liao
- Huasen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7327-282X)
- Lili Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7082-4898)
- Zhong Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1473-2224)
- Xinqin Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7772-3280)
- Zijian Huang
- Yanhao Luo
- Ruize Wangyuan
Institutions
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Xiamen University (CN)
- Xiamen University of Technology (CN)
- University of Science and Technology Beijing (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65624-z
- Citations
- 9
- Primary Topic
- Advanced Sensor and Energy Harvesting Materials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.07
Funders
- Ministry of Education - Singapore
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Science Foundation of Fujian Province
- Ministry of Education, India
- Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China
- National Key Research and Development Program of China