Asynchronous, event-driven readout of POSFET devices for tactile sensing

In this work, we report a novel circuit architecture to implement event-driven tactile sensing using the POSFET tactile device. The proposed circuit matches advantages of the POSFET device (integration of sensing and electronics on the same die, high electromechanical transduction bandwidth, etc.) with the ones of the event-driven approach. In the proposed circuit, the POSFET device is interfaced with a spiking neuron, of the type integrate and fire: the input mechanical stimulus is translated into digital pulses. The proposed approach paves the way for the implementation of neuromorphic integrated tactile sensing systems based on POSFET devices.