An IC-integrated, flexible, shear-stress sensor skin is made by providing a wafer with integrated circuits and sensor elements which are fabricated in the wafer, disposing a first polymer layer on the wafer and sensor elements to provide mechanical support for the sensor elements, defining a cavity below the sensor elements to provide thermal isolation, while the sensor element remains supported by the first polymer layer, and isolating the sensor elements into a plurality of islands defined in the wafer, so that the islands, with at least one sensor element on at least one of the islands, and the integrated circuits form the IC-integrated, flexible, shear-stress sensor skin. The invention is an IC-integrated, flexible, sensor skin made according to the method.