Last updated: 2020-05-07
Requirements
The requirements necessary for replacement tactile sensory functionality involve the following high-level elements.
Physical Temperature Detection
Status: Viable
Organic Model: specialized cells, when exposed to different temperatures, produce a chemical reaction which results in being able to produce a neural signal.
Engineered Models: there are many well-understood, commonly employed sensors that allow accurate sensing of physical temperature.
Texture Detection
Status: Research Phase
Organic Model: specialized cells are able to react to mechanical pressure changes, which can arise from either movement or the variation of the depression caused by a physical object contacting a series of cells.
Engineered Models: haptic feedback technology is a field with active and enthusiastic research behind it, however the field has not yet produced a fully viable commercial solution to this problem. Challenges mostly fall to the resolution and response time of various methodologies being explored.
Other Haptic Feedback
Status: Research Phase
Organic Model: specialized cells are able to react to tissue damage, which can arise from myriad causes such as a skin puncture or heart burn. Such sensory processes are much more understood for cases occurring outside the body (ie: skin, etc) versus those occurring inside the body (ie: indigestion, headache, heartburn).
Engineered Models: there are no existing engineered replacements for this sort of sensory process known at this time.
Neural Translation
Status: Research Phase
Organic Model: the various sensory cells that, combined, constitute the ability to “feel”, each produce their own neural signals.
Engineered Models: while there are many examples in prosthesis solutions today that allow an electrode to stimulate a nerve ending, there are no known examples specific to this application, that of translating the electrical signal from a prosthetic haptic device to the nerves that carry those signals to the brain. Several case studies, however, are being performed, which may result in a commercially viable solution.
Neural Transmission
Status: Research Phase
Organic Model: neural signals which compose haptic sensations are carried to the brain by multiple different types of nerve bundles, across and throughout the entire human body. Accordingly, the transmission of these sensations are acutely site-specific.
Engineered Models: there are no existing engineered replacements for the various nerves responsible for conducting haptic signals to the brain at this time.
Available Devices
None
There are no commercially available devices that could be used for haptic prosthesis at this time. This is a field under active study, in particular for haptic feedback as part of a prosthetic limb.
