3D-Printed Bionic Ear for Sound Identification and Localization Based on In Situ Polling of PVDF-TrFE Film.

ABSTRACT

Bionic acoustic sensors are an indispensable part to realize interactions between humans and robotics. In this work, a PVDF-TrFE sensor array with multiple active pixels combined with a 3D-printed bionic ear model is prepared, which can accurately detect sounds with different frequencies and locate the sound source from different directions. The PVDF-TrFE sensor array can clearly identify the sound within 25 cm, and the error between the accepted sound frequency and the original input frequency is less than 0.001%. Through the algorithm analysis of the input signal, the location of the sound source can be immediately analyzed. Compared with other acoustic sensors, this sensor has the advantages of being self-powered, small size, and high flexibility, which holds great potential for bionic applications.