TY - GEN
T1 - Principles and applications of active tactile sensing strategies in the rat vibrissal system
AU - Towal, R. Blythe
AU - Hartmann, Mitra J Z
PY - 2010/12/1
Y1 - 2010/12/1
N2 - The importance of active sensing to animals suggests that it may confer significant advantages to engineered sensing systems. The rat vibrissal (whisker) system is an important model for studying tactile active sensing. To date, however, the small size and fast speeds of the whiskers have precluded characterization of the rat's exploratory strategies. We have developed novel optical instrumentation that has allowed one of the first quantifications of tactile sampling during rat exploratory behavior. Results reveal characteristics of vibrissal active sensing that may find application in artificial tactile sensing systems; for example, the morphology of the whisker array allows rats to sample at multiple spatial scales within a single sampling cycle. Here, we describe the design and implementation of the novel optical system and how it is helping to uncover sampling strategies in this biological system.
AB - The importance of active sensing to animals suggests that it may confer significant advantages to engineered sensing systems. The rat vibrissal (whisker) system is an important model for studying tactile active sensing. To date, however, the small size and fast speeds of the whiskers have precluded characterization of the rat's exploratory strategies. We have developed novel optical instrumentation that has allowed one of the first quantifications of tactile sampling during rat exploratory behavior. Results reveal characteristics of vibrissal active sensing that may find application in artificial tactile sensing systems; for example, the morphology of the whisker array allows rats to sample at multiple spatial scales within a single sampling cycle. Here, we describe the design and implementation of the novel optical system and how it is helping to uncover sampling strategies in this biological system.
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U2 - 10.1109/ICSENS.2010.5690646
DO - 10.1109/ICSENS.2010.5690646
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:79951915110
SN - 9781424481682
T3 - Proceedings of IEEE Sensors
SP - 2230
EP - 2234
BT - IEEE Sensors 2010 Conference, SENSORS 2010
T2 - 9th IEEE Sensors Conference 2010, SENSORS 2010
Y2 - 1 November 2010 through 4 November 2010
ER -