From Playroom to Lab: Tough Stretchable Electronics Analyzed with a Tabletop Tensile Tester Made from Toy-Bricks

Toy bricks are an ideal platform for the cost-effective rapid prototyping of a tabletop tensile tester with measurement accuracy on par with expensive, commercially available laboratory equipment. Here, a tester is presented that is not only a versatile demonstration device in mechanics, electronics, and physics education and an eye-catcher on exhibitions, but also a powerful tool for stretchable electronics research. Following the “open-source movement” the build-up of the tester is described and all the details for easy reproduction are disclosed. A a new design of highly conformable all-elastomer based graded rigid island printed circuit boards is developed. Tough bonded to this elastomer substrate are imperceptible electronic foils bearing conductors and off-the-shelf microelectronics, paving the way for next generation smart electronic appliances.