A kilohertz kilotaxel tactile sensor array for investigating spatiotemporal features in neuromorphic touch

The spatiotemporal structure of mechanoreceptor responses is known to facilitate rapid tactile processing in the brain. To investigate whether such mechanisms can be replicated by artificial systems, tactile sensors with a large number of elements and sub-millisecond response time are required. In this work, we present a 4096 element tactile sensor array that can be sampled at over 5kHz. Experimental results demonstrate that high spatiotemporal resolution aids to resolve force magnitude and direction of tactile events. Such a platform enables the development of time dependent neuromorphic algorithms for tactile learning and signal processing.