Flexible strain sensors capable of conformal integration with living organisms are essential for advanced wearable electronics, human–machine interaction, and plant health. However, many existing sensors require complex fabrication or rely on non-breathable elastomer substrates that interfere with the physiological microenvironment of skin or plant tissues. Here, we present a low-cost, breathable, and highly stretchable strain sensor constructed from biomedical materials, in which a double-layer medical elastic bandage serves as the porous substrate and an intermediate conductive medical elastic tape impregnated with carbon nanotubes (CNTs) ink acts as the sensing layer. Owing to the hierarchical textile porosity and the deformable CNTs percolation network, the sensor achieves a wide strain range of 100%, a gauge factor of up to 2.72, and excellent nonlinear second-order fitting (R² = 0.997). The bandage substrate provides superior air permeability, allowing long-term attachment without obstructing moisture and gas exchange, which is particularly important for maintaining skin comfort and preventing disturbances to plant epidermal physiology. Demonstrations in human joint-motion monitoring and real-time plant growth detection highlight the device’s versatility and biological compatibility. This work offers a simple, low-cost yet effective alternative to sophisticated strain sensors designed for human monitoring and plant growth monitoring, providing a scalable route toward multifunctional wearable sensing platforms.

Flexible pressure sensors with a porous architecture are highly desirable for wearable health monitoring and intelligent human–machine interaction, owing to their excellent comfort and conformability to human motion. However, conventional porous sensors often suffer from poor signal accuracy and unstable output, which limit their capability for precision sensing. To address these challenges, we designed and fabricated a flexible pressure sensor with exceptional linearity by mimicking the unique surface structure of Iron Cross Begonia (Begonia masoniana) leaves. The sensor is constructed using a readily available melamine foam as the backbone: a porous sensing scaffold is first obtained via a simple dip-coating process, and a film featuring bioinspired protrusions is fabricated by repeated replica molding. Lamination of these two components yields a stacked sensor device. Characterization demonstrates that the sensor achieves a broad pressure detection range of up to 350 kPa, with a minimum resolvable pressure of 250 Pa, and exhibits an excellent linearity of 0.999 over its entire working range (0–350 kPa). Moreover, the sensor shows stable responses under varying loading frequencies, is capable of detecting low-frequency signals, and retains its performance without notable degradation even after 5000 repeated loading-unloading cycles. In practical applications, the sensor accurately monitors flexion and extension movements of the wrist, finger, neck, and knee, capturing human motion signals with high fidelity. Furthermore, it enables information encoding and transmission through finger gestures. The proposed bioinspired structural design strategy effectively enhances the overall performance of porous pressure sensors, offering a new paradigm for the development of flexible sensing devices with promising applications in wearable health monitoring, human motion detection, and human–machine interaction.

Flexible pressure sensors with porous structures are essential for wearable electronics and robotic perception. However, traditional porous flexible sensors suffer from poor stability and long recovery times. To address these challenges, a strategy integrating bionic architectures inspired by the rigid–flexible coupling structure of Bambusa textilis and the micro-protrusion structure of Salvia plebeia R.Br. is proposed. An aluminum sheet serves as the support layer, and the sensing layer is prepared through mold replication, material impregnation, and layer-by-layer assembly, offering a simple and scalable fabrication route. The sensor exhibits a broad effective pressure range of 0–31.5 kPa, with a minimum resolvable force of 0.2 N, and within its operating range (0–23.5 kPa), the relationship between resistance and pressure exhibits a trend that can be fitted to a quadratic term, with a coefficient of determination of 0.9986. It achieves a minimum response time of 350 ms and maintains stable signals under dynamic loading at different frequencies, indicating reliable detection of low-frequency weak pressures. After 5000 loading–unloading cycles, the device shows no obvious performance degradation. When mounted on a robotic foot, the sensor successfully distinguishes land, sponge, sand, and pebbles surfaces, demonstrating its potential for intelligent environmental perception.