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Tactile and Chemical Senses

Tactile and Chemical Senses

Tactile senses encompass touch, temperature, and pain, each mediated by specific receptors. Touch receptors detect mechanical energy or pressure against the skin. Sensory fibers from these receptors enter the spinal cord and relay information to the brain stem. Here, most fibers cross over to the opposite side of the brain. The touch information then moves to the thalamus, which projects a map of the body's surface onto the somatosensory areas of the parietal lobes in the cerebral cortex.

Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

Design Example: Resistive Touchscreen

Design Example: Resistive Touchscreen

A device engineer plays a crucial role in designing user interfaces for mobile devices. One such interface is the resistive touchscreen, which fundamentally consists of two metallic layers: a flexible upper layer and a rigid lower layer, separated by a narrow gap. The high resistance between these two layers is a key characteristic of this design.
When a user touches the screen, the two layers make contact at a specific point known as the touchpoint. This contact reduces the resistance between...

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Updated: Feb 27, 2026

MPI CyberMotion Simulator: Implementation of a Novel Motion Simulator to Investigate Multisensory Path Integration in Three Dimensions

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Published on: May 10, 2012

SimTac: A Physics-Based Simulator for Vision-Based Tactile Sensing with Biomorphic Structures.

Xuyang Zhang¹, Jiaqi Jiang^1,2, Zhuo Chen¹

¹Department of Engineering, King's College London, London WC2R 2LS, UK.

Cyborg and Bionic Systems (Washington, D.C.)

|February 26, 2026

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed SimTac, a novel simulation framework for designing bio-inspired tactile sensors. This tool enables the creation of complex, geometrically adaptable robotic tactile sensors that mimic biological forms for enhanced interaction.

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Last Updated: Feb 27, 2026

MPI CyberMotion Simulator: Implementation of a Novel Motion Simulator to Investigate Multisensory Path Integration in Three Dimensions

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Published on: May 10, 2012

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Published on: May 23, 2019

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS

A Tactile Automated Passive-Finger Stimulator TAPS

Published on: June 3, 2009

Area of Science:

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence
Bio-inspired Engineering
Materials Science

Background:

Biological tactile sensing relies on complex morphologies (e.g., fingers, trunks) for rich interactions.
Robotic tactile sensors are typically limited to simple planar designs, neglecting biomorphic potential.

Purpose of the Study:

To introduce SimTac, a physics-based simulation framework for designing and validating biomorphic tactile sensors.
To bridge the gap between bio-inspired design and practical robotic tactile sensing.

Main Methods:

Utilized particle-based deformation modeling for accurate physical simulation.
Employed light-field rendering for photorealistic tactile image generation.
Integrated a neural network for predicting mechanical responses across diverse geometries and materials.

Main Results:

Successfully designed and validated physical sensor prototypes inspired by biological tactile structures.
Demonstrated SimTac's effectiveness in Sim2Real tasks: object classification, slip detection, and safety assessment.
Showcased accurate and efficient simulation capabilities for various geometries and materials.

Conclusions:

SimTac expands the design space for tactile sensors by integrating morphology and sensing.
The framework facilitates the development of robust tactile sensing systems for unstructured environments.
Enables bio-inspired tactile sensors that enhance robotic interaction capabilities.