A self-powered biomimetic mouse whisker sensor (BMWS) aiming at terrestrial and space objects perception

The extremely sensitive whisker discernment of mice is the key expertise enabling their survival in extreme adverse environments. Previous sensors mimicking animal whiskers for environmental awareness tend to be cumbersome, reliant on external power, and limited application scenarios, which constrains their applicability in more extensive contexts. Inspired by the ability of mice exploring and perceiving environments with their whiskers, a lightweight self-powered BMWS is designed for terrestrial and spatial objects exploration. Owing to the merits of triboelectric and decent structural design, BMWS demonstrates outstanding collision detection capabilities and signal stability. Subsequently, BMWS showcases its extraordinary strength in tasks including direction identification, hole width discrimination, real-time distance sensing, and intelligent early warning. Empowered by an artificial neural network (ANN), BMWS accomplishes the identification of ground and spatial objects with astounding accuracy, pioneering the transfer application of ANN to the domain of biomimetic mouse whiskers and expanding the research boundaries of biomimetic mouse whisker sensors, while taking the first step toward whisker sensor deployment in space environments.