The Neuromechanical Basis of Human Touch: Insights from Data-Driven Simulation

Neeli Tummala

Postdoctoral Candidate, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara

Date: Wednesday, February 7 ? 10:00 AM

Location: Tech B211 (ME Conference Room)

Zoom: https://tinyurl.com/CRBSeminar

Abstract: The sense of touch is a complex neuromechanical system that is essential for everyday tasks, like holding a pencil or picking up a glass of water. When we touch an object with our hands, the contact event generates skin oscillations that are biomechanically transmitted throughout the entire upper limb, exciting thousands of widespread touch receptors that convey information about the touch interaction to the brain. This neuromechanical process is challenging to fully characterize due to the biomechanical complexity of the hand and the limitations of current neural recording techniques. In this talk, I will present a data-driven method for simulating biomechanical transmission and touch receptor population responses across the entire hand with high spatiotemporal resolution. With this technique, I will establish that biomechanical transmission plays a central pre-neuronal role in the human tactile system by disseminating diverse touch information across touch receptor populations, thereby supporting tactile encoding efficiency. I will also discuss how these touch receptor population responses spatially encode information about complex, natural touch gestures, such as tapping and grasping. Finally, I will detail an open-source software I developed to support haptics researchers in investigating these complex biomechanical processes that underlie our sense of touch. Ultimately, my work holds promise for expanding our understanding of human touch perception and introduces principles that could be leveraged for artificial tactile sensing in robotics and prosthetics and for the design of haptic devices.

Bio: An electrical and computer engineering (ECE) PhD student at UC Santa Barbara, Neeli Tummala studies how a person's tactile system, or sense of touch, encodes information from the environment, and she uses that knowledge to create better haptic devices, robots, and prosthetics, as well as to develop tools and techniques that aid people with sensory disorders.