Bio-inspired Tactile FA-I Spiking Generation under Sinusoidal Stimuli  

作　　者：Zhengkun Yi Yilei Zhang 

机构地区：[1]School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Manyang Avenue 639798, Singapore

出　　处：《Journal of Bionic Engineering》2016年第4期612-621,共10页仿生工程学报（英文版）

摘　　要：For the design and development of advanced prosthetic limbs, many attempts have been made to restore the function of mechanoreceptors using artificial tactile sensors. Mechanoreceptors in human skin, which make dexterous manipulation pos- sible, respond to the mechanical stimuli in the form of spike trains. In this paper, a bin-inspired approach to replicate the Fast Adapting type I （FA-I） mechanoreceptor is developed, where piezoelectric materials, such as polyvinylidene difluoride （PVDF） films, are used to generate continuous analog electrical signals; then the analog signals are successfully converted into spike trains using the spiking neuron model. By comparing with spike trains measured from the glabrous skin of macaque monkeys, it was found that this approach can mimic FA-I afferent spiking activities in terms of both the average inter-spike interval and the first spike latency. Spike features of the FA-I mechanoreceptors, such as the variability, frequency dependent responses, and population activity, were also explored, which may play a vital role in the understanding of the functionality of FA-I mech- anoreceptors and the development of advanced prosthetic limbs.For the design and development of advanced prosthetic limbs, many attempts have been made to restore the function of mechanoreceptors using artificial tactile sensors. Mechanoreceptors in human skin, which make dexterous manipulation pos- sible, respond to the mechanical stimuli in the form of spike trains. In this paper, a bin-inspired approach to replicate the Fast Adapting type I （FA-I） mechanoreceptor is developed, where piezoelectric materials, such as polyvinylidene difluoride （PVDF） films, are used to generate continuous analog electrical signals; then the analog signals are successfully converted into spike trains using the spiking neuron model. By comparing with spike trains measured from the glabrous skin of macaque monkeys, it was found that this approach can mimic FA-I afferent spiking activities in terms of both the average inter-spike interval and the first spike latency. Spike features of the FA-I mechanoreceptors, such as the variability, frequency dependent responses, and population activity, were also explored, which may play a vital role in the understanding of the functionality of FA-I mech- anoreceptors and the development of advanced prosthetic limbs.

关 键 词：bio-inspired tactile sensor FA-I mechanoreceptor spiking neuron model inter-spike interval first spike latency 

分 类 号：Q[生物学]