Abstract
This paper reviews the state of the art of artificial tactile sensing, with a particular focus on bio-hybrid and fully-biological approaches. To this aim, the study of physiology of the human sense of touch and of the coding mechanisms of tactile information is a significant starting point, which is briefly explored in this review. Then, the progress towards the development of an artificial sense of touch are investigated. Artificial tactile sensing is analysed with respect to the possible approaches to fabricate the outer interface layer: synthetic skin versus bio-artificial skin. With particular respect to the synthetic skin approach, a brief overview is provided on various technologies and transduction principles that can be integrated beneath the skin layer. Then, the main focus moves to approaches characterized by the use of bio-artificial skin as an outer layer of the artificial sensory system. Within this design solution for the skin, bio-hybrid and fully-biological tactile sensing systems are thoroughly presented: while significant results have been reported for the development of tissue engineered skins, the development of mechanotransduction units and their integration is a recent trend that is still lagging behind, therefore requiring research efforts and investments. In the last part of the paper, application domains and perspectives of the reviewed tactile sensing technologies are discussed.
Highlights
The sense of touch allows humans to assess object properties, such as size, temperature, vibration and texture, and to detect slippage and measure grasping force during manipulation tasks
Robots and advanced hand neuro-prostheses are required to perform human-like manipulation tasks; they should be equipped with artificial tactile sensory systems capable of mimicking the human sense of touch
This means that advanced robotic hands should be endowed with both an artificial sensing system capable to acquire the physical variables underpinning the tactile information through physical interaction, and to translate—
Summary
The sense of touch allows humans to assess object properties, such as size, temperature, vibration and texture, and to detect slippage and measure grasping force during manipulation tasks. The mechanoelectrotransduction (or mechanoneurotransduction) occurs when an external stimulus transfers energy to the human fingerpad, in contact mode (e.g., mechanical probing) or contactless (e.g., heat transfer via radiation), so to elicit sequences of electrical discharges that reach the brain via the afferent pathways [5] and code the stimulus in a perceptual form This papers reviews the recent advancements of microfabrication technologies towards the development of an artificial skin with embedded tactile sensors, via Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) or hybrid artificial-biological microstructures (BioMEMS) that permit the design and fabrication of new miniaturized sensors made out of different materials and with integrated sensing and processing capabilities.
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