Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions

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Martinelli, Samuele and Reid, Andrew Baxter and Windmill, James F. C.; (2025) Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions. In: FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings. FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings . IEEE, SGP, pp. 1-4. ISBN 9798331509996 (https://doi.org/10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673)

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Abstract

Nature has always inspired humans to create innovative tools. Arachnids show exceptional and functional sensory receptors at a small scale. Air flow mechanoreceptors, commonly called trichobothria, are used in different shapes and sizes by several arachnid species. The goal of this work is to develop flat hair-like sensors inspired by the adult Buthus occitanus scorpion. A sensor that responds to airflow has been developed and realized using multi-material additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing). The sensor has been sputter coated with platinum to add piezoresistive sensing capabilities. Preliminary results with an unbalanced voltage divider show a promising response in the mV region.

ORCID iDs

Martinelli, Samuele ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-8039-6663, Reid, Andrew Baxter ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0511-4640 and Windmill, James F. C. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4878-349X;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)