Hee-Sup Shin

Northwestern University | NU · Center for Bio-Integrated electronics

Sensations of heat and touch produced by receptors in the skin are of essential importance for perceptions of the physical environment, with a particularly powerful role in interpersonal interactions. Advances in technologies for replicating these sensations in a programmable manner have the potential not only to enhance virtual/augmented reality e...

Insects, bats, and small birds show outstanding flight performance even under complex atmospheric conditions, which is partially due to the ability of these natural fliers to sense and react to disturbances quickly. These biological systems often use large numbers of sensors arrayed across their bodies to detect disturbances, but previous efforts t...

Partial cystectomy procedures for urinary bladder–related dysfunction involve long recovery periods, during which urodynamic studies (UDS) intermittently assess lower urinary tract function. However, UDS are not patient-friendly, they exhibit user-to-user variability, and they amount to snapshots in time, limiting the ability to collect continuous,...

This article describes the design of a soft airflow sensor capable of detecting the direction and the magnitude of airflow, taking advantage of an additive manufacturing technique for rapid prototyping. The sensor consists of an artificial hair structure and conductive ionogel channels. The artificial hair, made by 3-D printing, is designed to maxi...

Thermal sensations contribute to our ability to perceive and explore the physical world. Reproducing these sensations in a spatiotemporally programmable manner through wireless computer control could enhance virtual experiences beyond those supported by video, audio and, increasingly, haptic inputs. Flexible, lightweight and thin devices that deliv...

Recent advances in haptic interfaces support a range of options in adding sensations of touch to virtual and augmented reality experiences. A fundamental understanding of the mechanics associated with coupling between vibro-tactile actuators and the skin is important in considering device designs and interpreting sensory perceptions. Here, we inves...

Haptic interfaces can be used to add sensations of touch to virtual and augmented reality experiences. Soft, flexible devices that deliver spatiotemporal patterns of touch across the body, potentially with full-body coverage, are of particular interest for a range of applications in medicine, sports and gaming. Here we report a wireless haptic inte...

Biological organisms demonstrate remarkable agility in complex environments, especially in comparison to engineered robotic systems. In part, this is due to an organism's ability to detect disturbances and react to them quickly. To address the challenge of quickly sensing these same disturbances in robotic systems, this study proposes and demonstra...

The finger geometry of embedded elastomeric comb capacitors significantly affects the electromechanical response of interdigitated capacitor (IDC) based soft sensors. When strain is applied to these IDC based soft sensors, the embedded soft combs are deformed, changing the sensor's capacitance to detect a variety of different mechanical loads. To b...

This work presents the design and fabrication of a flexible wing skin with an array of embedded soft strain sensors for detecting the deformation of an airplane wing. The fabricated skin is composed of soft sensors and wires encapsulated by an elastomeric sheet. The soft strain sensors comprised of conductive elastomeric comb capacitors provide eno...

This work demonstrates an all-elastomer MEMS capacitive strain sensor with high dynamic range (5000:1), and features an inexpensive molding microfabrication process. The sensor is comprised of conductive elastometric comb capacitors embedded in a dielectric. Two different sensor designs, lateral combs (LC) and transverse combs (TC), were developed...

The cross-sectional geometry of an embedded microchannel influences the electromechanical response of a soft microfluidic sensor to applied surface pressure. When a pressure is exerted on the surface of the sensor deforming the soft structure, the cross-sectional area of the embedded channel filled with a conductive fluid decreases, increasing the...

Whole-body-contact sensing will be crucial in the quest to make robots capable of safe interaction with humans. This paper describes a novel design and a fabrication method of artificial tactile sensing skin for robots. The manufacturing method described in this paper allows easy filling of a complex microchannel network with a liquid conductor (e....

Soft sensors with embedded microchannels filled with liquid conductors have recently been proposed for detecting various types of mechanical stimuli, such as contact pressures, shear forces, strains, and curvatures. Their sensing behaviors are mainly determined by geometrical changes of the embedded microchannels, which is caused by mechanical defo...