Artificial Organic Afferent Nerves with Tactile Enhancement for Closed-Loop Feedback of Intelligent Robot

In biological tactile somatosensory system, the cooperation of mechanoreceptors, neurons and synapses allows human to efficiently detect, transmit and process the tactile information. Emulation of the tactile sensory nerve to achieve advanced sensory functions in robotics with artificial intelligence is of great interest. Here, we report an artificial organic afferent nerve (AOAN) by integrating novel pressure-activated organic electrochemical synaptic transistor (OEST) and artificial mechanoreceptors. Owing to the effect of electrochemical ion doping and ion trapping in bulk conjugated semiconductor, external mechanical stimulation enables activation and modulation of OEST, endowing the system with the recognition/sensation of spatiotemporal tactile information and a low retention loss during signal transmission. Dendritic integration function for neurorobotics is achieved to perceive directional movement of object. An intelligent robot with our system, coupling with a closed-loop feedback program is demonstrated for slip detection and prevent slippage of objects. This work provides a promising approach towards next-generation intelligent neurorobotics and low power biomimetic electronics.