Abstract
Living organisms are capable of self-reproduction, self-repair, and high adaptability by dynamically changing their control strategy and mechanical properties. By applying biological materials such as cells and tissues to a robot, the resultant biomachine hybrid system is able to be significant biological functions that are beyond a traditional robot. In this study, a cell tactile sensor was developed in which cultured cells were used as living tactile receptors. The sensor possessed self-organizing sensitivity and could distribute its receptors for selective sensing of certain tactile information based on the history of the mechanical stimuli applied by the training. The experimental results revealed that the mechanical stimuli produced significant changes in the receptors, and the sensor detected selectively certain mechanical stimulus. We thus successfully realized a novel cell tactile sensor that was environmentally adaptable.
