Electrically Conductive and Recyclable Biocomposite Coatings for Robotic Grippers and Touch Sensors

As automation expands across industries, robotics is becoming increasingly essential. However, the sector's growth raises concerns about sustainability, making crucial the integration of sustainable materials into robots. Many robotic systems rely on moving components, such as arms, touch sensors, and grippers, that frequently interact with humans or objects, making them highly susceptible to wear and tear. A promising strategy to address this challenge is designing easily replaceable parts made from green, recyclable materials using low-energy fabrication methods. This approach not only reduces waste generation but also enhances the functionality and durability of these critical components. In this work, electrically conductive biocomposite coatings that functionalize a commercial foam are presented, enabling its use as a robotic gripper or as a touch sensor based on piezoresistive or piezocapacitive feedback mechanism, respectively. The conductive coatings are composed of polybutylene adipate terephthalate biodegradable polymer binder and carbon fillers, achieving sheet resistance in the order of kΩ sq−1, and are chemically recyclable. The coated foams have stable performance, exhibiting low hysteresis piezoresistive and piezocapacitive responses over 100 deformation cycles, making them a viable solution as robotic grippers and touch sensors. Using sustainable and recyclable materials, the approach supports environmentally friendly practices in robotics and sensing applications.