Stanford and Seoul National University researchers have developed an artificial sensory nervous system that can reinstate sensation to amputees using prosthetic limbs and maybe one day give robots some type of reflex capability.
The study published in the journal Science, is a step toward creating an artificial skin for prosthetic limbs, to restore sensation to amputees and, perhaps, one day give robots some type of reflex capability. "We take skin for granted but it's a complex sensing, signaling and decision-making system," said Zhenan Bao, Professor at the Stanford University in California, US. "This artificial sensory nervous system is a step towards making skin-like sensory neural networks for all sorts of applications.”
The researchers tested the ability of the system in a cockroach and found that it can activate the twitch reflex and distinguish letters in the Braille alphabet. The study describes how the researchers constructed an artificial sensory nerve circuit that could be embedded in a future skin-like covering for neuroprosthetic devices and soft robotics. This rudimentary artificial nerve circuit integrates three previously described components.
The first is a touch sensor that can detect even minuscule forces. This sensor sends signals through the second component--a flexible electronic neuron. Sensory signals from these components stimulate the third component, an artificial synaptic transistor modeled after human synapses.
The first is a touch sensor that can detect even minuscule forces. Stanford Professor Zhenan Bao is leading researchers in the quest for an artificial nerve system.
Image credit: Image credit: Kevin Craft via Standford University
"Biological synapses can relay signals, and also store information to make simple decisions. The synaptic transistor performs these functions in the artificial nerve circuit," said Tae-Woo Lee of Seoul National University in South Korea one of the co-authors of the paper. “The synaptic transistor performs these functions in the artificial nerve circuit.”
While the new work has a long way to go before it reaches that level of complexity. But in the Science paper, the researchers describe how the electronic neuron delivered signals to the synaptic transistor, which was engineered in such a way that it learned to recognize and react to sensory inputs based on the intensity and frequency of low-power signals, just like a biological synapse. The researchers hope to create low-power, artificial sensor nets to cover robots in the future.
0 Comments