Nature has proved that multiple sense and processing capabilities are critical for target recognition and race survival. As such, advanced robots that perform missions in an unstructured environment highly need organism‐similar multimodal sensing and processing systems for sophisticated unstructured environmental stimuli. Herein, recent progress in multimodal sensing and processing systems for advanced robotics is reviewed. Multimodal sensors including tactile sensors that capture surface properties of objects (i.e., thermal conductivity, temperature, softness, and electron affinity), visual sensors that capture the color and size of objects, and gas sensors that capture object smell are summarized. The multimodal data fusion algorithms that process multimodal signals from multimodal sensors to achieve object recognition and decision making are also presented. The challenges and future development of multimodal sensors and data fusion algorithms are further discussed. Advances in these areas open new avenues for advanced robotics applications in human–robot collaboration, rescue missions, garbage sorting, and intelligent prosthetics.

Reliable, wide range, and highly sensitive joint movement monitoring is essential for training activities, human behavior analysis, and human-machine interfaces. Yet, most current motion sensors work on the nano/microcracks induced by the tensile deformation on the convex surface of joints during joint movements, which cannot satisfy requirements of ultrawide detectable angle range, high angle sensitivity, conformability, and consistence under cyclic movements. In nature, scorpions sense small vibrations by allowing for compression strain conversion from external mechanical vibrations through crack-shaped slit sensilla. Here, we demonstrated that ultraconformal sensors based on controlled slit structures, inspired by the geometry of a scorpion’s slit sensilla, exhibit high sensitivity (0.45%deg ^-1 ), ultralow angle detection threshold (~15°), fast response/relaxation times (115/72 ms), wide range (15° ~120°), and durability (over 1000 cycles). Also, a user-friendly, hybrid sign language system has been developed to realize Chinese and American sign language recognition and feedback through video and speech broadcasts, making these conformal motion sensors promising candidates for joint movement monitoring in wearable electronics and robotics technology.

Hybrid organic-inorganic molecular ferroelectrics have emerged as promising materials for multifunctional piezoelectric devices. However, they present challenges in practical applications because of their inherent brittleness and poor ductility. Herein, we present a flexible mechano-optical dual-responsive molecular ferroelectric composite by incorporating trimethylchloromethyl ammonium (TMCM)–MnCl ₃ into styrene ethylene butylene styrene (SEBS) matrix. The SEBS/TMCM-MnCl ₃ exhibits excellent stretchable mechanical properties (tensile strain >1300%, thickness of 30 μm), piezoelectricity, and photoluminescence, enabling advanced visual-tactile–fused anticounterfeiting and encryption applications. Anticounterfeiting and antitampering tags are developed to judge whether the valued items are true or tampered with based on pattern recognition and piezoelectric response, respectively. Additionally, high-security password keyboards featuring triple-layer encryption are designed, offering more password combinations (524,288 times greater than those of traditional password devices relying solely on digital encryption) and enhanced security reliability against cracking attempts. This work can inspire designs of multifunctional optoelectronic materials and enable visual-tactile–fused intelligent applications in human-machine interfaces, information security, and advanced robotics.

Elastic conductors are vital for flexible electronics, but the high filler concentrations conventionally required to achieve metallic conductivity severely degrade mechanical properties. Here, we report a poor solvent–induced interfacial self-assembly strategy to fabricate robust elastic conductors. This approach yields a resilient top polymer domain and a bottom liquid metal (LM) polymer interpenetrating conductive domain. Consequently, the conductors achieve exceptional conductivity (3.33 × 10 ⁶ siemens per meter), extreme stretchability (>1400% strain), and high toughness (>30 megapascals) at a low LM loading (~15% volume proportion). By regulating the self-assembly behavior of LM nanoparticles in elastomers, our method overcomes the traditional trade-off between electrical and mechanical performance. Demonstrating its practical utility, we constructed a wireless stretchable system for monitoring the temperature and motion of living organisms, highlighting its broad applicability in high-performance wearable and implantable electronics.

Wearable integrated systems that rely on liquid metal commonly require an extremely complicated, high-cost fabrication process, while lacking multiple sensing functions without conductive wires connected to external electronic systems. A multi-sensing wearable patch independent from sophisticated manufacturing method and excessive use of wires has yet to be developed. Herein, we introduce a wireless, battery-free, and skin-attachable patch with multiple sensing capacities, utilizing a low-budget, less time-consuming and design-customizable fabrication method. In an effort to achieve our goal, the general sensing system architecture is promoted, which consists of a semi-liquid alloy Ni-GaIn based strain sensor and a co-designed near-field-communication (NFC) tag integrating thermistor, photoresistor, as well as sensor interface circuits, enabling energy-autonomous power supply and wireless data transmission. In human volunteers, the patch was mounted on the skin surface to demonstrate real-time temperature and light intensity signal monitoring. Further evaluation of body motion capturing involved finger bending and swallowing, demonstrating the feasibility of practical applications in different scenarios. Continuous and simultaneous multi-type signal sensing using the wearable patch should enrich the dimensions of measurements of body response to daily activities, unveiling the potential for remote human health monitoring, advanced human–machine interfaces, and other applications of interest.

Molecular ferroelectrics—hybrid organic-inorganic architectures that exhibit piezoelectric coefficients comparable to classic oxide ceramics while offering rich compositional and structural tunability—have emerged as promising materials for human-interfaced high-frequency acoustic sensing. Nevertheless, the inherent brittleness and relatively high modulus hinder their practical deployment on dynamically deformable interfaces. Here, we report stretchable molecular ferroelectric acoustic fibers fabricated by incorporating molecular ferroelectric trimethylchloromethyl ammonium trichlorocadmium (TMCM-CdCl₃) crystals into flexible thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) via electrospinning. Intermolecular interactions between TMCM-CdCl₃ and TPU, along with the interlocked layered architecture between electrodes and fibers, endow the fiber acoustic sensor with high stretchability (tensile strain >100%), high force sensing sensitivity (4.36 V/kPa), and wide-frequency acoustic sensing (30–5000 Hz). Crucially, a strain-induced sensitivity enhancement effect is proposed and verified, where the acoustic sensitivity of the sensor increases from 15.03 mV/dB to 30.16 mV/dB under strain. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the acoustic fiber can maintain a high speech recognition accuracy (97.05%) even for mixed speech data obtained using the acoustic fiber in original and 20% tensile strain states. This work establishes a route for acoustic sensing at dynamic deformable interface and advances human-interfaced acoustic applications such as robotic interaction, biomedical engineering, and virtual reality.