Abstract
This paper discusses the Mach phenomenon in the skin and proposes a method of an artificial tactile pattern recognition. Moreover, the geometrical relationship between the stress distribution and the threshold distribution in an artificial finger is described.
The skin has two principal layers, the surface epithelium or epidermis, and the underlying corium or derma. Beneath the latter is the subcutaneous tissue. In this paper, the two layers and the subcutaneous tissue are treated approximately as one layer of subcutaneous tissue.
When the external pressure is applied to the skin model, the tissue being compressed exhibits an elastic response and a large deformation. As the stress in the skin stimulates the nerve ending, we can calculate the stress concentration and the output of nerve ending. It is introduced from the facts described above that the Mach phenomenon is due to the stress concentration and effect of lateral inhibition.
On the other hand, it was already reported that the simple tactile sense model with a variable threshold was provided in the method of an artificial tactile pattern recognition. In this paper, the area size of pattern which is defined by relationship between the stress distribution and the threshold distribution is discussed in the simple tactile sense model.
