Artificial organic afferent nerves enable closed-loop tactile feedback for intelligent robot

This paper presents an artificial organic afferent nerve (AOAN) achieved by integrating a pressure-activated organic electrochemical synaptic transistor and artificial mechanoreceptors. The AOAN, operating at a low bias of -0.6V, enables dendritic integration to perceive directional object movement, simplifying control complexity. An intelligent robot using this AOAN with closed-loop feedback demonstrates rapid slip recognition and prevention. Spatiotemporal tactile patterns are differentiated with high accuracy using deep learning on spike-encoded signals. This work is a significant advance in mimicking synaptic behavior for intelligent neurorobotics and low-power biomimetic electronics.

Shuai Chen, Zhongliang Zhou, Kunqi Hou, Xihu Wu, Qiang He, Cindy G. Tang, Ting Li, Xiujuan Zhang, Jiansheng Jie, Zhiyi Gao, Nripan Mathews, Wei Lin Leong