Self-adaptive magnetically force-sensitive electronic skin based on biomimetic conductive network structure

Haptic perception poses a critical challenge for machine intelligence, as current electronic skins (e-skins) fail to simultaneously achieve high sensitivity, tunable force-sensing properties, and environmental adaptability. Inspired by the human tactile neural network, a flexible e-skin solution based on a biomimetic adaptive mechanism is proposed. By emulating the gating behavior of PZ protein ion channels in Merkel cells, we developed a carbon-based microstructured magneto-responsive force-sensing material (GR-MP-MRE). Leveraging the magnetically induced chaining of NdFeB microparticles and the conductive tunneling gap of multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), a dynamically reconfigurable “island–bridge” network was constructed. This network forms neural synapse-like topological pathways under electromagnetic coupling, enabling dynamic tuning of sensor sensitivity, resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) with magnetic fields. When integrated into a robotic dog’s paw, the skin intelligently recognizes complex terrain features and distinguishes microscopic differences, offering a novel approach for biomimetic adaptive design in flexible electronics.