Design of a V-Shaped Inductive Strain Sensor With Superior Stretchability and Low Hysteresis

High stretchability and low hysteresis are two important performance factors for stretchable strain sensors, but they are often difficult to achieve simultaneously. To address this challenge, we present a novel inductive strain sensor with a V-shaped structural design. The sensor consists of a V-shaped structure and two inductor–capacitor (LC) circuits placed on its adjacent facets. The V-shaped structure is mainly manufactured using flexible printed circuit (FPC) technology. When the sensor is stretched, the deformation of the V-shaped structure changes the relative position of the LC circuits, causing a change in their mutual inductance effect, and thus changing the equivalent inductance. The fixed and reversible deformation mode of the V-shaped structure enables the sensor to achieve a low hysteresis of 0.3% under a large tensile strain of 300%. Moreover, our sensor demonstrates excellent durability, with almost no signal drift observed after 1000 cyclic tests. To demonstrate its practicality, we integrate the sensor into an intuitive human–robot interaction glove for real-time master–slave control of a robotic hand and a soft finger for strain monitoring. These results highlight the potential of our sensor for advancing next-generation human–robot interaction devices and soft robotic systems.