Thanks for sharing your work. Would you be able to compare your device to the fiber optic one used in the data glove (e.g., https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1742-6596/2464/1/...).
Our lab has done a good bit of work around elastomers similar to the linked paper, such as multitouch pressure sensing (https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/9674750). The authors of your linked paper can actually achieve what they've done with a single light source by using one of these! The zones are key (https://www.st.com/en/imaging-and-photonics-solutions/time-o...)