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Advancing Medical Robotics Through Soft Sensing
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Advancing Medical Robotics Through Soft Sensing

A special issue of Sensors (ISSN 1424-8220). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Sensors".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 June 2026 | Viewed by 772

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Linda Paternò

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The BioRobotics Institute, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio, 34, 56025 Pontedera, Italy
Interests: soft robotics; wearable physical interfaces; variable stiffness technologies; medical devices
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Laura Ferrari

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
The BioRobotics Institute, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio, 34, 56025 Pontedera, Italy
Interests: tattoo technology; multimodal emotion recognition; wearables; bionics
Dr. Hareesh Godaba

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Southampton Highfield Campus, Southampton, UK
Interests: soft actuators and sensors; tactile sensing; medical robotics
Dr. Caglar Ozturk

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Bioengineering Science Research Group, School of Engineering, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Interests: cardiovascular biomechanics; soft robotics; medical devices; fluid-structure interaction
Dr. Eric Worlawoe Gaba

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor Assistant
The Robotics and Multibody Mechanics Group, Vrije Universiteit Brussels, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussel, Belgium
Interests: sustainable materials; composites; prosthetics; assistive technologies

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Soft robotics has rapidly emerged as a transformative paradigm in medical robotics, enabling safe, adaptive, and minimally invasive interactions with the human body. Central to this progress is the development of soft sensors capable of conforming to complex biological structures while providing real-time feedback on force, pressure, deformation, and physiological signals. Recent advances in materials science, microfabrication, and computational methods are driving these technologies from proof-of-concept devices toward full integration into functional robotic systems.

This Special Issue seeks to highlight the latest breakthroughs in soft sensing, showcasing how novel materials, fabrication techniques, bio-inspired approaches, and AI-driven data processing can expand the capabilities of soft robotics. We welcome original research articles, reviews, and perspectives on sensing strategies applied to medical robotics, prosthetics, wearable health-monitoring systems, rehabilitation technologies, and human–robot interfaces. Contributions that bridge fundamental science with real-world applications are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Linda Paternò
Dr. Laura Ferrari
Dr. Hareesh Godaba
Dr. Caglar Ozturk
Guest Editors

Dr. Eric Worlawoe Gaba
Guest Editor Assistant

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sensors is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • soft sensors
  • soft robotics
  • medical robotics
  • personalized design
  • self-sensing
  • wearable devices
  • human–robot interaction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

18 pages, 3240 KB  
Article
Ultrathin Temporary Tattoo Electrodes Enable Prolonged Skin-Conformable EMG Sensing for Hip Exoskeleton Control
by Michele Foggetti, Marina Galliani, Andrea Pergolini, Aliria Poliziani, Emilio Trigili, Francesco Greco, Nicola Vitiello, Laura M. Ferrari and Simona Crea
Sensors 2026, 26(9), 2587; https://doi.org/10.3390/s26092587 - 22 Apr 2026
Viewed by 441
Abstract
Conventional gel electrodes are the gold standard for surface electromyography (sEMG), yet their bulkiness, stiffness, and limited gel lifetime prevents seamless day-long integration with wearable robots. We integrated ultrathin skin-conformal temporary tattoo electrodes with a powered unilateral hip exoskeleton and compared signal quality [...] Read more.
Conventional gel electrodes are the gold standard for surface electromyography (sEMG), yet their bulkiness, stiffness, and limited gel lifetime prevents seamless day-long integration with wearable robots. We integrated ultrathin skin-conformal temporary tattoo electrodes with a powered unilateral hip exoskeleton and compared signal quality during treadmill walking against gel. In this pilot study, five healthy participants completed three consecutive walking blocks at fixed speed: (1) using gel electrodes; (2) using tattoo electrodes to compare signal quality; and (3) using the same tattoo electrodes (not repositioned) after eight hours of wear to simulate a full day of typical device use and to evaluate potential degradation in signal quality over time. Electrodes were positioned on muscles not covered by the exoskeleton interface (tibialis anterior and gastrocnemius medialis), as well as on muscles located beneath the exoskeleton cuff, which were potentially subject to motion artifacts due to the application of external forces by the exoskeleton (rectus femoris and biceps femoris, BF). Across all muscles, for both gel and tattoo electrodes, the root mean square error (RMSE) between normalized sEMG envelopes and biological activation profile was 0.069 ± 0.048, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient (ρ) was 0.844 ± 0.091. Re-testing the same tattoo electrode pair after eight hours confirmed day-long stability without the need for recalibration. Statistical analysis revealed no significant differences in signal quality, also when applying assistive forces, between the two electrode types and across all muscles (RMSE, all p ≥ 0.3125; ρ, all p ≥ 0.1250), as well as no degradation after eight hours (RMSE and ρ: all p ≥ 0.0626, uncorrected). Finally, in a proof-of-concept session, BF activity measured with tattoo electrodes was found reliable to drive hip-extension assistance in real time. Collectively, these results show that tattoo electrodes deliver signal quality comparable to gel electrodes while offering a low-profile skin-conformal interface and day-long usability, making them a promising option for enhancing EMG-based control in wearable robots. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advancing Medical Robotics Through Soft Sensing)
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