An Artificial Reflex Arc That Perceives Afferent Visual and Tactile Information and Controls Efferent Muscular Actions

Neural perception and action-inspired electronics is becoming important for interactive human-machine interfaces and intelligent robots. A system that implements neuromorphic environmental information coding, synaptic signal processing, and motion control is desired. We report a neuroinspired artifi...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Lin Sun, Yi Du, Haiyang Yu, Huanhuan Wei, Wenlong Xu, Wentao Xu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2022-01-01
Series:Research
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.34133/2022/9851843
Description
Summary:Neural perception and action-inspired electronics is becoming important for interactive human-machine interfaces and intelligent robots. A system that implements neuromorphic environmental information coding, synaptic signal processing, and motion control is desired. We report a neuroinspired artificial reflex arc that possesses visual and somatosensory dual afferent nerve paths and an efferent nerve path to control artificial muscles. A self-powered photoelectric synapse between the afferent and efferent nerves was used as the key information processor. The artificial reflex arc successfully responds to external visual and tactile information and controls the actions of artificial muscle in response to these external stimuli and thus emulates reflex activities through a full reflex arc. The visual and somatosensory information is encoded as impulse spikes, the frequency of which exhibited a sublinear dependence on the obstacle proximity or pressure stimuli. The artificial reflex arc suggests a promising strategy toward developing soft neurorobotic systems and prostheses.
ISSN:2639-5274