In tactile sensing, decoding the journey from afferent tactile signals to efferent motor commands is a significant challenge primarily due to the difficulty in capturing population-level afferent nerve signals during active touch. This study integrates a finite element hand model with a neural dynamic model by using microneurography data to predict neural responses based on contact biomechanics and membrane transduction dynamics. This research focuses specifically on tactile sensation and its direct translation into motor actions. Evaluations of muscle synergy during in -vivo experiments revealed transduction functions linking tactile signals and muscle activation. These functions suggest similar sensorimotor strategies for grasping influenced by object size and weight. The decoded transduction mechanism was validated by restoring human-like sensorimotor performance on a tendon-driven biomimetic hand. This research advances our understanding of translating tactile sensation into motor actions, offering valuable insights into prosthetic design, robotics, and the development of next-generation prosthetics with neuromorphic tactile feedback.

This work was contributed by Yuyang Wei 1,2, Andrew G. Marshall 3,  Francis P. McGlone 4, Adarsh Makdani 5, Yiming Zhu 2, Lingyun Yan 2, Lei Ren 2,6* & Guowu Wei 7*

1. Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PJ, UK

2. Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, The University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK

3. Institute of Life Course and Medical Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK

4. Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Otakaari 24, Helsinki, Finland

5. School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, L3 5UX, UK

6. Key Laboratory of Bionic Engineering, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Jilin, China

7. School of Science, Engineering and Environment, University of Salford, Manchester, M5 4WT, UK

and published on Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 6857 (2024) 

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50616-2