Slit Sensilla Research Articles

An ultrasensitive flexible force sensor with nature-inspired minimalistic architecture to achieve a detection resolution and threshold of 1 mN for underwater applications

Highly sensitive flexible force sensors enable precise detection of underwater signals for monitoring biological activity, environmental conditions, and vehicle movement. Multilayer stack assembly and micro/nano structure array are often seen in most force/pressure sensors which are toughly hard to control the interlayer spacing and micro/nano structures alignment precisely, resulting in poor consistency and stability. Herein, we first reported a new force sensor with a nature-inspired minimalistic architecture, addressing such issues in an elegant and surprising approach by using a single-layer arched functional membrane with one microgroove. Inspired by the scorpions’ slit sensilla and mantis’ campaniform sensilla, a highly sensitive and waterproof flexible force sensor was fabricated. It is demonstrated that the force sensor has a sensitivity of 27.6 N−1, a high force resolution (1 mN), a fast response time of 70 ms, excellent stability over 5000 cycles and linearity (0.996), and a small force detection limit (≤ 1 mN), showing great potential in underwater environment sensing and motion monitoring of vehicles. This novel but minimalistic architecture provides a new direction in the development of sensors with advanced performance.

Highly Robust and Self-Adhesive Soft Strain Gauge via Interface Design Engineering.

Highly robust soft strain gauges are rapidly emerging as a promising candidate in the fields of vital signs and machine conditions monitoring. However, it is still a key challenge to achieve high-performance strain sensing in these sensors with mechanical/electrical robustness for long-term usage. The multilayer structural design of sensors enhances sensing performance while the interfacial connection of heterogeneous materials between different layers is weak. Herein, inspired by the efficient perception mechanism of scorpion slit sensilla with tough interface interconnections, the synergy of ultra-high electrical performance and mechanical robustness is successfully achieved via interface design engineering. The developed multilayer soft strain gauge (MSSG) exhibits a strain sensitivity beyond 105, a lower detection limit of 8.3µm, a frequency resolution within 0.1Hz, and cyclic stability over 63000 strain cycles. Also, the tough interface improves the level of heterogeneous integration in the MSSG which allows to endure different stresses. Furthermore, an MSSG-based wireless strain monitoring system is developed that enables applications on different complex dynamic surfaces, including accurate identification of human throat activity and monitoring of rolling bearing conditions.

Highly Sensitive Biomimetic Crack Pressure Sensor with Selective Frequency Response.

High-sensitivity sensors in practical applications face the issue of environmental noise interference, requiring additional noise reduction circuits or filtering algorithms to improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). To address this issue, this study proposes a biomimetic crack pressure sensor with selective frequency response based on hydrogel dampers. The core of this research is to construct a biomimetic crack pressure sensor with selective frequency response using the high-pass filtering characteristics of gelatin-chitosan hydrogels. This design, inspired by the slit sensilla and stratum corneum structure of spider legs, delves into the material properties and principles of hydrogel dampers, exploring their application in biomimetic crack pressure sensors, including parameter selection, structural design, and performance optimization. By delving into the nuanced characteristics and working principles of hydrogel dampers, their integration in biomimetic crack pressure sensors is examined, focusing on aspects like parameter selection, structural engineering, and performance enhancement to selectively sieve out low-frequency noise and transmit target vibrational signals. Experimental results demonstrate that this innovative sensor, while suppressing low-frequency vibration signals, can selectively detect high-frequency signals with high sensitivity. At different vibration frequencies, the relative change in resistance exceeds 200%, and the sensor sensitivity is 7 × 104 kPa-1. Furthermore, this sensor was applied to human voice detection, and the corresponding results verified its frequency-selective performance evidently. This study not only proposes a new design for pressure sensors but also offers fresh insights into the application of biomimetic crack pressure sensors in intricate environments.

Highly robust mechanical sensing platform inspired by a scorpion structure for 3D-mechanical signal perception

Three-dimensional force sensors play a crucial role in the aerospace industry and precision mechanical manufacturing. However, the current sensors still lack sufficient stability in the sensing of spatial mechanical forces and struggle to distinguish dynamic and static pressure signals. Coincidentally, scorpions in nature show a remarkable capacity to perceive three-dimensional stress with exceptional stability and sensitivity. This is primarily attributed to the highly sensitive sensing structure and stable multilayer structure in the slit sensilla of a scorpion. Inspired by this design, we develop a biomimetic sensing platform capable of accurately detecting the magnitude, position, and loading rate of a spatial force. This bionic system consists of an alternating combination of carbon fiber board (CFB) and hydroxylated multiwalled carbon nanotubes-styrene–isoprene (HMCNSI). Specifically, the flexible HMCNSI polymer enhances fatigue resistance, while the rigid CFB offers support and protection, resulting in exceptional robustness and stability of the sensing platform. The platform exhibits a rapid response time (14 ms), a fast recovery time (28 ms), and excellent sensitivity (GF = 46 for strain 0–3 %; GF = 118.3 for strain 3–6 %). Furthermore, the mechanical sensing platform can distinguish dynamic and static loads, identify exertion force rates in the range of 0.1–1 m/s and force magnitudes within 30 N, and provide a high positioning accuracy of 1 mm. The proposed biomimetic sensing platform exhibits promising applications in the field of precision detection of spatial forces such as human-machine interactions and intelligent robotics.

A double-crack structure for bionic wearable strain sensors with ultra-high sensitivity and a wide sensing range.

Flexible strain sensors are crucial in fully monitoring human motion, and they should have a wide sensing range and ultra-high sensitivity. Herein, inspired by lyriform organs, a flexible strain sensor based on the double-crack structure is designed. An MXene layer and an Au layer with cracks are constructed on both sides of the insulated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) film, forming an equivalent parallel circuit that guarantees the integrity of the conductive path under a large strain. The rapid disconnection of the crack junctions causes a significant change in the resistance value. Due to the effect of cracks on the conductive path, the sensitivity of the sensor is largely improved. Benefiting from the double-crack structure, the as-obtained sensor shows ultra-high sensitivity (maximum gauge factor of up to 14 373.6), a wide working range (up to 21%), a fast response time (183 ms) and excellent dynamical stability (almost no performance loss after 1000 stretching cycles and different frequency cycles). In practical applications, the sensor is applied to different parts of the human body to sense the deformation of the skin, demonstrating its great potential application value in human physiological detection and the human-machine interaction. This study can provide new ideas for preparing high-performance flexible strain sensors.

Pressure Sensors With Ultrahigh Sensitivity Inspired by Spider Slit Sensilla

The crack-based ultrasensitive sensor inspired by spider has an efficient electro-mechanical conversion mechanism and shows superiority in extremely small movements monitoring. However, a complete explanation of the sensing mechanism and the theoretical study of the optimization of the crack structure is still a challenge. Here, we simplify the bionic sensing layer into a parallel equal-length crack structure and implement the mechanical analysis using the method of complex variable function, from which, three typical stages of the crack structure under different force levels are summarized, which are overlap, transition and tunneling, respectively. The sensing characteristics at each stage is studied and a pressure-resistance model is established, also the influence law of the crack parameters on the sensitivity and measuring range is investigated, all to support the design of a bionic crack pressure sensor aiming for ultrahigh sensitivity. To fabricate the pressure sensor, the elastic substrate for the cracks is successfully prepared by gold ion sputtering, and the morphology of the metal cracks is precisely controlled using a photolithography-assisted method. According to experiments, the fabricated pressure sensor shows an ultrahigh sensitivity of 2.39×10 <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">7</sup> kPa <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">-1</sup> in the range of 0.28-0.35 kPa, as well as pleasing repeatability within at least 1000 testing cycles. The sensitivity of the bionic crack pressure sensor is desirable comparing with a group of recently reported pressure sensors. Combining with other benefits of stability and reliable fabrication, our bionic crack pressure sensor is attractive for ultra-precision applications, such as human-machine interfaces and biological health monitoring.

Sensory Structures on the Antenniform Legs of Whip Spider, Phrynichus phipsoni (Arachnida, Amblypygi), from the Indian State of Goa: Scanning Electron Microscopic Elucidation

Amblypygi have a tropical and sub-tropical distribution and their first of the four pairs of legs, is modified as feelers. Their activity period and dark habitats render visual cues ineffective and they rely on non-visual sensory perception. There is agreement among researchers that the whip spiders invest in olfactory and tactile senses imparted by sensory structures concentrated on the tarsal segment of the first pair of long, well-articulated non-ambulatory legs that are constantly moved in all directions to sample the environment for detecting location of prey, as also for navigating. This is the first attempt to elucidate the sensory structures present on the antenniform legs of the whip spider, Phrynichus phipsoni (Pocock, 1894), collected from the state of Goa, India; using scanning electron micro[1]scope, and paves way for further research on sensory biology of this cryptic arachnid order. The examined specimen generally conforms to the diversity and morphology of sensory assemblage on the antenniform legs reported in other amblypygi species. Sensory structures elucidated include terminal trident tarsal claws, tarsal organ, bristles, porous sensilla, club sensilla, rod sensilla, slit sensilla, trichobothria, plate organ, pit organ and foliate leaf like hairs.

Achieving Ultrasensitivity and Long-Term Durability Simultaneously for Microcantilevers Inspired by a Scorpion's Circular Tip Slits.

Microcantilevers are one of the most essential sensitive elements for various mechanical sensors. Their sensing performance determines the index level of a series of sensors. To date, the long-standing trade-off between ultrasensitivity and long-term durability of microcantilevers still remains a challenge. In nature, scorpions can sense vibrations as low as 10 nm amplitude through their circular tip slits sensilla. Such slit sensilla embedded in the exoskeleton of walking legs endure the compressing and stretching of every movement without spontaneous fracture failures. Here, we focused on the structural design of the circular tip slits which concentrate stress effectively and disperse energy smoothly, with the result that the microcantilevers are ultrasensitive and durable simultaneously in a single element. We devised a reproducible circular tip slits cantilever with enhanced sensitivity and ultralow detection limits to monitor 7 nm amplitude vibrations. The sensor possessed excellent durability and remained highly consistent with the correlation coefficient of nearly 0.999 over 100 000 cycles. Furthermore, the circular tip slits cantilever could precisely sense diverse subtle mechanical signals and exhibited potential applications in monitoring respiratory patterns. The simple geometric design can be easily manufactured on various sensory materials for applications requiring ultrahigh sensitivity and long-time durability.

Degradable Bioinspired Hypersensitive Strain Sensor with High Mechanical Strength Using a Basalt Fiber as a Reinforced Layer.

Flexible strain sensors have received extensive attention due to their broad application prospects. However, a majority of present flexible strain sensors may fail to maintain normal sensing performances upon external loads because of their low strength and thus their performances are affected drastically with increasing loads, which severely restricts large-area popularization and application. Scorpions with hypersensitive vibration slit sensilla are coincident with a similar predicament. Herein, it is revealed that scorpions intelligently use risky slits to detect subtle vibrations, and meanwhile, the distinct layered composites of the main body of this organ prevent catastrophic failure of the sensory structure. Furthermore, the extensive use of flexible sensors will generate a mass of electronic waste just as obsoleting silicon-based devices. Considering mechanical properties and environmental issues, a flexible strain sensor based on an elastomer (Ecoflex)-wrapped fabric with the woven structure was designed and fabricated. Note that introducing a "green" basalt fiber (BF) into a degradable elastomer can effectively avoid environmental issues and significantly enhance the mechanical properties of the sensor. As a result, it shows excellent sensitivity (gauge factor (GF) ∼138.10) and high durability (∼40,000 cycles). Moreover, the reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/BF/Ecoflex flexible strain sensor possesses superior mechanical properties (tensile strength ∼20 MPa) and good flexibility. More significantly, the sensor can maintain normal performances under large external tensions, impact loads, and even underwater environments, providing novel design principles for environmentally friendly flexible sensors under extremely harsh environments.

Flexible Equivalent Strain Sensor with Ordered Concentric Circular Curved Cracks Inspired by Scorpion.

Slit sensillum, a unique sensing organ on the scorpion's legs, is composed of several cracks with curved shapes. In fact, it is just its particular morphological distribution and structure that endows the scorpions with ultrasensitive sensing capacity. Here, a scorpion-inspired flexible strain sensor with an ordered concentric circular curved crack array (CCA) was designed and fabricated by using an optimized solvent-induced and template transfer combined method. The morphology of the cracks can be effectively controlled by the heating temperature and the lasting time. Instead of the nonuniform stress distribution induced by disordered cracks, ordered concentric circle curved structures are introduced to generate a uniform stress distribution and larger deformation, which can significantly improve the performance of the strain sensor. Thus, the CCA sensor exhibits ultrahigh sensitivity (GF ∼ 7878.6), excellent stability (over 16 000 cycles), and fast response time (110 ms). Furthermore, the CCA sensor was demonstrated to be feasible for monitoring human motions and detecting noncontact vibration signals, indicating its great potential in human-health monitoring and vibration signal detection applications.

Vibration detection in arthropods: Signal transfer, biomechanics and sensory adaptations

In arthropods, the detection of vibrational signals and stimuli is essential in several behaviours, including mate recognition and pair formation, prey detection, and predator evasion. These behaviours have been studied in several species of insects, arachnids, and crustaceans for vibration production and propagation in the environment. Vibration stimuli are transferred over the animals’ appendages and the body to vibrosensory organs. Ultimately, the stimuli are transferred to act on the dendrites of the mechanosensitive sensilla. We refer to these two different levels of transfer as macromechanics and micromechanics, respectively. These biomechanical processes have important roles in filtering and pre-processing of stimuli, which are not carried out by neuronal components of sensory organs. Also, the macromechanical transfer is posture-dependent and enables behavioural control of vibration detection. Diverse sensory organs respond to vibrations, including cuticular sensilla (slit sensilla, campaniform sensilla) and internal chordotonal organs. These organs provide various adaptations, as they occur at diverse body positions with different mechanical couplings as input pathways. Macromechanics likely facilitated evolution of vibrosensory organs at specific body locations. Thus, vibration detection is a highly complex sensory capacity, which employs body and sensory mechanics for signal filtering, amplification, and analysis of frequency, intensity and directionality.

Bioinspired, Omnidirectional, and Hypersensitive Flexible Strain Sensors.

Sensors are widely used in various fields, among which flexible strain sensors that can sense minuscule mechanical signals and are easy to adapt to many irregular surfaces are attractive for structure health monitoring, early detection, and failure prevention in humans, machines, or buildings. In practical applications, subtle and abnormal vibrations generated from any direction are highly desired to detect and even orientate their directions initially to eliminate potential hazards. However, it is challenging for flexible strain sensors to achieve hypersensitivity and omnidirectionality simultaneously due to the restrictions of many materials with anisotropic mechanical/electrical properties and some micro/nanostructures they employed. Herein, it is revealed that the vision-degraded scorpion detects subtle vibrations spatially and omnidirectionally using a slit sensillum with fan-shaped grooves. A bioinspired flexible strain sensor consisting of curved microgrooves arranged around a central circle is devised, exhibiting an unprecedented gauge factor of over 18000 and stability over 7000 cycles. It can sense and recognize vibrations of diverse input waveforms at different locations, bouncing behaviors of a free-falling bead, and human wrist pulses regardless of sensor installation angles. The geometric designs can be translated to other material systems for potential applications including human health monitoring and engineering failure detection.

Slit sense organ distribution on the legs of two species of orb-weaving spider (Araneae: Araneidae)

Biotic and abiotic mechanical stimuli are ubiquitous in the environment, and are a widely used source of sensory information in arthropods. Spiders sense mechanical stimuli using hundreds of slit sense organs (small isolated slits, large isolated slits, groups of slits and lyriform organs) distributed across their bodies and appendages. These slit sense organs are embedded in the exoskeleton and detect cuticular strain. Therefore, the spatial pattern of these sensors can give clues into how mechanical stimuli from different sources might be processed and filtered as they are transmitted through the body. Here, we map the distribution of slit sense organs on the legs in two species of orb-weaving spider, A. diadematus and T. edulis, in which slit sense organ distribution has not previously been investigated. We image the spiders’ legs using scanning electron microscopy, and trace the position and orientation of slits on these images to describe the distribution and external morphology of the slit sense organs. We show that both species have a similar distribution of slit sense organs, with small isolated slits occurring in consistent lines parallel to the long axis of the legs, whilst large isolated slits, groups of slits and lyriform organs appear in fixed positions near the leg joints. Our findings support what has been described in the literature for several other species of spider, which indicates that slit organ arrangement is conserved across spiders in different evolutionary lineages and with disparate hunting strategies. The dispersed distribution of small isolated slits along the whole length of the leg may be used to detect large-scale strain of the leg segment as a result of muscle activity or internal changes in haemolymph pressure.

A Selective-Response Bioinspired Strain Sensor Using Viscoelastic Material as Middle Layer.

Flexible strain sensors have an irreplaceable role in critical and emerging fields, such as electronic skins, flexible robots, and prosthetics. Although numerous efforts have been made to improve sensor sensitivity to meet specific application scenarios, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is an extremely critical and non-negligible indicator, which takes into account higher sensitivity, meaning that they can also detect the noise signals with high sensitivity. Coincidentally, scorpions with ultrasensitive vibration sensilla also face such a dilemma. Here, it is found that the scorpion ingeniously uses the viscoelastic material in front of its slit sensilla to realize efficient preprocessing of the signal. Its mechanism is that the loss factor of materials changes with frequency, affecting energy storage and transmission. Inspired by this ingenious strategy, a bioinspired strain sensor insensitive to a low strain rate was designed using a two-step template transfer method. As a result, its relative change in resistance reached 110% under the same strain (0.3197%) but with different strain rates (0.1 Hz and ∼20 Hz). The noncontact vibration experiments also show different responses to low-frequency vibration and high-frequency impact. Moreover, it can also be used as a typical flexible strain sensor. Under the tensile state, it has a gauge factor (GF) as high as 4596 upon 0.6% strain, and the response time is 140 ms. Therefore, it is expected that this strain sensor will be used in many important ultraprecision measurement fields, especially when the measured signal is small.

Conductive Porous MXene for Bionic, Wearable, and Precise Gesture Motion Sensors.

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.

Lyriform vibration receptors in the web‐building spider, Nephila clavata (Araneidae: Araneae: Arachnida)

AbstractVibration receptors appear to be more necessary for web‐building spiders, but most knowledge of arachnid lyriform organs comes from the study of wandering spiders affected by ground vibrations. Here, we examined the fine structural aspects of the lyriform organs in the web‐building spider Nephila clavata using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to fill the gap. The lyriform organ is found in all appendages, including the femur, patella, tibia, and metatarsal segments. A number of slit receptors of various sizes are distributed in the parallel orientation of the cuticle along the long axis. According to its fine structural characteristics, all lyriform organs of this spider are classified as a compound type with multiple cuticular slits. However, the number of cuticular slits per each lyriform organ varies considerably from a minimum of three to a maximum of 17. A total 35 pairs of lyriform organs were counted from an adult female spider. Except for small numerical variation in the 4th appendage, the distribution is remarkably constant within each appendage. Comparing the total number of cuticular slits per each appendage, the 3rd appendage has the highest number (85), but the 4th appendage shows the least number (63). Based on the total number of cuticular slits per leg segment, the patella segment seems to be the most sensitive to vibration reception in this orb‐web spider.

Co-expression of the neuropeptide proctolin and glutamate in the central nervous system, along mechanosensory neurons and leg muscle in Cupiennius salei.

Similar to hair cells in the mammalian cochlear system, mechanosensory neurons in the Central American wandering spider Cupiennius salei are strongly innervated by efferent fibers that originate from neurons whose somata are located in the central nervous system (CNS). In both the mammalian and arachnid systems, efferent fibers have been shown to co-express two or more transmitters; however, our understanding regarding co-transmission and how it affects sensory signal transduction and processing in these systems is only fragmentary. The spider model system is exceptionally suitable for this type of investigation due to the large size and easy accessibility of the sensory and efferent neurons in this system. Thus far, GABA and glutamate have been identified as the main fast-acting transmitters in efferent axons that form synaptic contacts onto sensory neurons in slit sense organs. Ultrastructural investigations suggest an abundance of neuropeptides within these peripheral synapses. In an effort to identify these peptides and conduct functional studies, we have employed immunohistochemistry to investigate whether the neuropeptide proctolin is present in neurons of the leg ganglia and in peripheral leg structures. Here, we demonstrate that ~ 73% of all neurons in the CNS of C. salei show proctolin-like immunoreactivity (proc-LIR) including the leg ganglia. We demonstrate that both strongly and weakly labeled neurons can be distinguished. The majority of proc-LIR neurons show weak labeling intensity and ~ 86.2% co-localize with glutamate. In future experiments, we plan to undertake functional studies to investigate the significance of this co-expression, which has yet to be investigated.

Are trichobothria used in terrestrial prey capture by the yellow scorpion Tityus serrulatus Lutz &amp; Mello, 1922 (Buthidae)?

Many arachnids rely on substrate-borne vibrations and air displacement to detect prey. Air-flow stimuli may be detected by long setae called trichobothria, which occur on scorpion pedipalps, but seldom have their functions been addressed in these animals. We tested the hypothesis that trichobothria on scorpion pedipalps are important for capturing terrestrial prey in the scorpion Tityus serrulatus. We predicted that scorpions with trichobothria experimentally removed would be less successful in capturing terrestrial prey than the control groups. We also predicted that scorpions without trichobothria would have a higher number of capture attempts, that the latency to detect prey and to the first capture attempts would be higher, and the number of times that scorpions oriented their body towards the prey would be lower. We used an experimental subject and a cricket in an arena with a paper sheet as substrate. We did not find differences in the measured variables between the groups. Other sensory organs, such as basitarsal compound slit sensilla and tarsal hairs would enable scorpions to detect prey by substrate-borne vibrations, compensating for the lack of trichobothria. Our results suggest that the trichobothria of T. serrulatus may not be essential to capture terrestrial prey.

A Spider's Vibration Landscape: Adaptations to Promote Vibrational Information Transfer in Orb Webs.

Spider orb webs are used not only for catching prey, but also for transmitting vibrational information to the spider. Vibrational information propagates from biological sources, such as potential prey or mates, but also abiotic sources, such as wind. Like other animals, the spider must cope with physical constraints acting on the propagation of vibrational information along surfaces and through materials-including loss of energy, distortion, and filtering. The spider mitigates these physical constraints by making its orb web from up to five different types of silks, closely controlling silk use and properties during web building. In particular, control of web geometry, silk tension, and silk stiffness allows spiders to adjust how vibrations spread throughout the web, as well as their amplitude and speed of propagation, which directly influences energy loss, distortion, and filtering. Turning to how spiders use this information, spiders use lyriform organs distributed across their eight legs as vibration sensors. Spiders can adjust coupling to the silk fibers and use posture to modify vibrational information as it moves from the web to the sensors. Spiders do not sense all vibrations equally-they are least sensitive to low frequencies (<30 Hz) and most sensitive to high frequencies (ca. 1 kHz). This sensitivity pattern cannot be explained purely by the frequency range of biological inputs. The role of physical and evolutionary constraints is discussed to explain spider vibration sensitivity and a role of vibration sensors to detect objects on the web as a form of echolocation is also discussed.

Bioinspired Pretextured Reduced Graphene Oxide Patterns with Multiscale Topographies for High-Performance Mechanosensors.

Highly sensitive mechanical sensing is vital for the emerging field of skin mimicry and wearable healthcare systems. To date, it remains a big challenge to fabricate mechanosensors with both high sensitivity and a wide sensing range. In nature, slit sensilla are crack-shaped sensory organs of arachnids, which are highly sensitive to tiny external mechanical stimuli. Here, inspired by the geometry of slit sensilla, a concept is developed that pretextures reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocoating into multiscale topographies with agminated crumples and interlaced cracks (crumpled & cracked RGO) through an efficient and scalable mechanically driven process. Both the sensitivity and the workable range can be facilely tuned by adjusting the crack density. The resulting mechanosensor exhibits a comprehensive superior performance including high sensitivity (a gauge factor of 205 to 3256), a wide and tunable sensing range (from 0-40 to 0-180%), long-term stability (over 5000 cycles), and multiple sensing functions. Based on its excellent performances, the mechanosensor can be used as a wearable electronic to in situ monitor subtle physiological signals and vigorous body actions. The rationally designed crumpled & cracked RGO provides a promising platform for artificial electronic skin and portable healthcare systems.