Human Somatosensory Processing and Artificial Somatosensation
Open Access
- 2 July 2021
- journal article
- review article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Thinking Skills and Creativity
- Vol. 2021, 9843259
- https://doi.org/10.34133/2021/9843259
Abstract
In the past few years, we have gained a better understanding of the information processing mechanism in the human brain, which has led to advances in artificial intelligence and humanoid robots. However, among the various sensory systems, studying the somatosensory system presents the greatest challenge. Here, we provide a comprehensive review of the human somatosensory system and its corresponding applications in artificial systems. Due to the uniqueness of the human hand in integrating receptor and actuator functions, we focused on the role of the somatosensory system in object recognition and action guidance. First, the low-threshold mechanoreceptors in the human skin and somatotopic organization principles along the ascending pathway, which are fundamental to artificial skin, were summarized. Second, we discuss high-level brain areas, which interacted with each other in the haptic object recognition. Based on this close-loop route, we used prosthetic upper limbs as an example to highlight the importance of somatosensory information. Finally, we present prospective research directions for human haptic perception, which could guide the development of artificial somatosensory systems.Keywords
Funding Information
- JST FOREST Program (JPMJFR2041)
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JP20K07722, JP18H01411)
- Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission (Z191100010618004)
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (81671776, 61727807)
- National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFC1314502, 2018YFC0115400)
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