An artificial neuromorphic somatosensory system with spatio-temporal tactile perception and feedback functions

The advancement in flexible electronics and neuromorphic electronics has opened up opportunities to construct artificial perception systems to emulate biological functions which are of great importance for intelligent robotics and human-machine interactions. However, artificial systems that can mimic the somatosensory feedback functions have not been demonstrated yet despite the great achievement in this area. In this work, inspired by human somatosensory feedback pathways, an artificial somatosensory system with both perception and feedback functions was designed and constructed by integrating the flexible tactile sensors, synaptic transistor, artificial muscle, and the coupling circuit. Also, benefiting from the synaptic characteristics of the designed artificial synapse, the system shows spatio-temporal information-processing ability, which can further enhance the efficiency of the system. This research outcome has a potential contribution to the development of sensor technology from signal sensing to perception and cognition, which can provide a special paradigm for the next generation of bionic tactile perception systems towards e-skin, neurorobotics, and advanced bio-robots.