I-tac: inverse design of 3D-printed tactile elastomers with tunable optical and mechanical properties
Author(s)
Fan, Wen
Zhang, Dandan
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Elastomers play a crucial role in capturing tactile information for vision-based tactile sensors (VBTSs), where they transduce contact stimuli into elastic deformation. Different sensor architectures demand distinct elastomer properties, such as optical transparency and mechanical hardness. Conventional forward design approaches, however, rely on iterative trial-and-error processes from material preparation to final performance, making them inefficient and difficult to scale. Here, we present i-Tac, an inverse design pipeline for tailoring the optical and mechanical properties of elastomers used in VBTSs. Inspired by the composite structure of the human dermis, i-Tac leverages multi-material additive manufacturing with three distinct PolyJet 3D printing resins. A mixture design methodology is first employed to characterise printed elastomers, generating response surface models (ReSMs) that map material composition to functional properties. Based on user-specified target requirements, a desirability function is then applied for multi-objective optimisation, yielding an optimal operating window of compositions. This enables the fabrication of elastomers with desired properties in a single iteration through monolithic manufacturing. Experimental validation confirms the effectiveness of i-Tac for elastomer customisation and demonstrates its potential for the complete fabrication of VBTSs with tailored performance.
Date Issued
2026-08-01
Date Acceptance
2026-03-25
Citation
Advanced Intelligent Systems, 2026, 8 (8)
ISSN
2640-4567
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Advanced Intelligent Systems
Volume
8
Issue
8
Copyright Statement
© 2026 The Author(s). Advanced Intelligent Systems published by Wiley-VCH GmbH This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
10.1002/aisy.202501200
Subjects
elastomer manufacturing
inverse design
multi-objective optimisation
vision-based tactile sensor
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e202501200
Date Publish Online
2026-02-24