A Tactile Void
Pierre Tapie, Diogo Barreiros Scatamburlo, Antoine Chateauminois and, Elie Wandersman

TL;DR
This paper presents a biomimetic tactile sensor using a gas cavity in an elastic semi-cylinder, demonstrating its ability to detect textures through cavity shape fluctuations, with implications for understanding mechanoreceptor responses.
Contribution
It introduces a novel tactile sensor model mimicking mechanoreceptors with a gas cavity, combining experiments and elastic modeling to analyze deformation and texture discrimination.
Findings
Cavity shape fluctuations enable texture discrimination.
Elastic model predicts cavity deformation under load.
Membrane stresses are anisotropic, affecting response.
Abstract
We mimic the mechanical response of touch mechanoreceptors by that of a gas cavity embedded in an elastic semi-cylinder, as a fingertip analogue. Using tribological experiments combined with optical imaging, we measure the dynamics and deformation of the cavity as the semi-cylinder is put in static contact or slid against model rough surfaces at constant normal force and velocity. We propose an elastic model to predict the cavity deformation under normal load showing that membrane mechanical stresses are anisotropic and we discuss its possible biological consequences. In friction experiments, we show that the cavity shape fluctuations allow for texture discriminations.
Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsForce Microscopy Techniques and Applications · Tactile and Sensory Interactions · Adhesion, Friction, and Surface Interactions
