Bionic Tactile Skins for Robotics: Fundamentals, Advances, and Future Prospects

Abstract

Robotic bionic tactile skins (RBTSs), as crucial components of next‐generation robotic systems, have attracted significant attention in recent years. By enabling robots to achieve human‐like tactile perception and interact effectively with their surroundings, RBTSs play an essential role in enhancing robotic intelligence. These skins can detect diverse tactile stimuli, including pressure, texture, temperature, and vibration, thereby providing robots with improved flexibility and sensory feedback. This review first discusses the fundamental principles of RBTSs, with a particular focus on key performance parameters such as sensitivity, response speed, and sensing range. It then systematically examines various design strategies, including material selection, biomimetic structural design, and manufacturing techniques, which have contributed to significant advances in tactile perception. Particular emphasis is placed on recent developments in bio‐inspired structures and multifunctional sensing capabilities, which have substantially improved the performance of bionic skins. Furthermore, this review explores diverse applications of RBTSs in human–robot interaction, dexterous manipulation, prosthetic tactile feedback, and AI‐enabled robotic systems. Finally, the current challenges and future directions in this field are discussed, with an emphasis on the integration of RBTSs into robotic platforms and the development of systems capable of simulating human tactile sensations for various future scenarios, thereby improving interactions with the physical world. This review aims to provide valuable insights for researchers and engineers in robotics and to offer a strategic roadmap for the further advancement of RBTSs.