A Low-Cost and Do-It-Yourself Pressure Sensor Enable Human Motion Detection and Human–Machine Interface Applications

Abstract In this work, cost-effective and do-it-yourself capacitive pressure sensors are fabricated using readily available commercial components. The sensors are created in a single-step process -by simply applying electrically conductive paint onto both sides of a porous melamine sponge. These sensors exhibit a wide-range pressure sensing capability, spanning from 10 Pa to 100 kPa. The sensors showcase an impressively low limit of detection, detecting pressures as low as 10 Pa, and exhibit a moderate response time of 123 ms. Moreover, the sensors display remarkable repeatability and stability over 10 000 loading and unloading cycles without experiencing fatigue. Notably, these exceptional qualities come at an exceptionally low material cost, with the sensor measuring 20 × 20 × 2 mm. To showcase their potential applications, the fabricated sensors are successfully employed in real-time human motion detection, proximity detection, and wearable keyboard applications.