Simultaneous tactile–morphological perception enables sensorimotor autonomy in soft robots

Simultaneous tactile–morphological perception enables sensorimotor autonomy in soft robots | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Simultaneous tactile–morphological perception enables sensorimotor autonomy in soft robots Huazhi Dong, Quan Xiong, Xiaopeng Wu, Haotian Chen, Lin Li, Sharel Peisan E, and 5 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8436085/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Biological systems navigate and interact with complex, dynamic environments by seamlessly integrating proprioception and exteroception to drive sophisticated sensorimotor loops. Soft robots mimic biological compliance, yet equipping them with simultaneous, body-wide, decoupled shape and tactile sensing remains a fundamental barrier to achieving similar sensorimotor autonomy. Here we report a fully stretchable, shape-agnostic electronic skin that overcomes this limitation to enable unified three-dimensional (3D) tactile–morphological perception. This breakthrough integrates a shape-conforming, stretchable architecture with tomography-inspired sensing and a physics-informed inversion pipeline to decouple co-occurring mechanical inputs and reconstruct sub-millimetre shape deformations while simultaneously mapping external touch or hydrodynamic stimuli at over 30 Hz. We demonstrate that this sensory feedback closes the sensorimotor loop by enabling diverse autonomous behaviours from adaptive locomotion and evasive swimming to intuitive human-robot interaction. These results define a general and scalable route to embodied intelligence, paving the way for soft machines with life-like sensorimotor responsiveness. Robotics Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8436085","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":564848192,"identity":"78bf7067-8227-4373-b4e2-e6da5009828e","order_by":0,"name":"Huazhi Dong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Edinburgh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Huazhi","middleName":"","lastName":"Dong","suffix":""},{"id":564850646,"identity":"d0422b5d-cb0b-48f4-805e-b4c486c47051","order_by":1,"name":"Quan Xiong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Macau","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Quan","middleName":"","lastName":"Xiong","suffix":""},{"id":564850647,"identity":"25b25bc0-d5cf-45ad-98d0-0d0be31e6857","order_by":2,"name":"Xiaopeng Wu","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Edinburgh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Xiaopeng","middleName":"","lastName":"Wu","suffix":""},{"id":564850648,"identity":"06dcddab-95f5-4621-8f73-0fcd9de97d89","order_by":3,"name":"Haotian Chen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Glasgow","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Haotian","middleName":"","lastName":"Chen","suffix":""},{"id":564850649,"identity":"6dc1d226-3cfb-4ad4-96ff-17e82ec0f115","order_by":4,"name":"Lin Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Edinburgh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lin","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":564850650,"identity":"945d2adc-19ce-456b-aaaf-1f67cb4316a9","order_by":5,"name":"Sharel Peisan E","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Edinburgh","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Sharel","middleName":"Peisan","lastName":"E","suffix":""},{"id":564850651,"identity":"c16fbbde-5679-4308-a6e4-684aaf144703","order_by":6,"name":"Chengjia Wang","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Heriot-Watt University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chengjia","middleName":"","lastName":"Wang","suffix":""},{"id":564850652,"identity":"7fd6caf2-3268-4d24-ba1c-2983a3fdb599","order_by":7,"name":"Nan Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Xidian University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Nan","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":564850653,"identity":"1dc38ade-3172-4b2e-999b-42fea5122314","order_by":8,"name":"Adam A. 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Soft robots mimic biological compliance, yet equipping them with simultaneous, body-wide, decoupled shape and tactile sensing \u0026nbsp;remains a fundamental barrier to achieving similar sensorimotor autonomy. Here we report a fully stretchable, shape-agnostic electronic skin that overcomes this limitation to enable unified three-dimensional (3D) tactile–morphological perception. This breakthrough integrates a shape-conforming, stretchable architecture with tomography-inspired sensing and a physics-informed inversion pipeline to decouple co-occurring mechanical inputs and reconstruct sub-millimetre shape deformations while simultaneously mapping external touch or hydrodynamic stimuli at over 30 Hz. We demonstrate that this sensory feedback closes the sensorimotor loop by enabling diverse autonomous behaviours from adaptive locomotion and evasive swimming to intuitive human-robot interaction. 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