Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions

Samuele Martinelli; Andrew Baxter Reid; James F. C. Windmill

doi:10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673

Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution book

1 Citation (Scopus)

43 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Nature has always inspired humans to create innovative tools. Arachnids show exceptional and functional sensory receptors at a small scale. Air flow mechanoreceptors, commonly called trichobothria, are used in different shapes and sizes by several arachnid species. The goal of this work is to develop flat hair-like sensors inspired by the adult Buthus occitanus scorpion. A sensor that responds to airflow has been developed and realized using multi-material additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing). The sensor has been sputter coated with platinum to add piezoresistive sensing capabilities. Preliminary results with an unbalanced voltage divider show a promising response in the mV region.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings
Place of Publication	Piscataway, NJ
Publisher	IEEE
Pages	1-4
Number of pages	4
ISBN (Electronic)	9798331509996
ISBN (Print)	9798331510008
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673
Publication status	Published - 6 Aug 2025
Event	IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS) 2025 - National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, Singapore Duration: 22 Jun 2025 → 25 Jun 2025 https://2025.ieee-fleps.org/

Publication series

Name	FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings

Conference

Conference	IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS) 2025
Country/Territory	Singapore
City	Singapore
Period	22/06/25 → 25/06/25
Internet address	https://2025.ieee-fleps.org/

Funding

This work is funded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), United Kingdom.

Keywords

bioinspired
3D-printed sensor
airflow
sensor
additive manufacturing
trichobothria
arachnid

Access to Document

10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673

Martinelli-etal-IEEE-2025-Additive-manufacturing-of-an-airflow-sensor-inspired-byAccepted author manuscript, 1.15 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Martinelli, S., Reid, A. B., & Windmill, J. F. C. (2025). Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions. In FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings (pp. 1-4). (FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673

Martinelli, Samuele ; Reid, Andrew Baxter ; Windmill, James F. C. / Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions. FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings. Piscataway, NJ : IEEE, 2025. pp. 1-4 (FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings).

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abstract = "Nature has always inspired humans to create innovative tools. Arachnids show exceptional and functional sensory receptors at a small scale. Air flow mechanoreceptors, commonly called trichobothria, are used in different shapes and sizes by several arachnid species. The goal of this work is to develop flat hair-like sensors inspired by the adult Buthus occitanus scorpion. A sensor that responds to airflow has been developed and realized using multi-material additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing). The sensor has been sputter coated with platinum to add piezoresistive sensing capabilities. Preliminary results with an unbalanced voltage divider show a promising response in the mV region.",

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Martinelli, S , Reid, AB & Windmill, JFC 2025, Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions. in FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings. FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings, IEEE, Piscataway, NJ, pp. 1-4, IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems (FLEPS) 2025, Singapore, Singapore, 22/06/25. https://doi.org/10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673

Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions. / Martinelli, Samuele ; Reid, Andrew Baxter ; Windmill, James F. C.
FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE, 2025. p. 1-4 (FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution book

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AB - Nature has always inspired humans to create innovative tools. Arachnids show exceptional and functional sensory receptors at a small scale. Air flow mechanoreceptors, commonly called trichobothria, are used in different shapes and sizes by several arachnid species. The goal of this work is to develop flat hair-like sensors inspired by the adult Buthus occitanus scorpion. A sensor that responds to airflow has been developed and realized using multi-material additive manufacturing (also known as 3D printing). The sensor has been sputter coated with platinum to add piezoresistive sensing capabilities. Preliminary results with an unbalanced voltage divider show a promising response in the mV region.

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Martinelli S , Reid AB , Windmill JFC. Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions. In FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE. 2025. p. 1-4. (FLEPS 2025 - IEEE International Conference on Flexible and Printable Sensors and Systems, Proceedings). doi: 10.1109/FLEPS65444.2025.11105673

Additive manufacturing of an airflow sensor inspired by the flat trichobothria of scorpions

Abstract

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Keywords

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Student Best paper Award - 3rd Place