ENERGY-EFFICIENT AND ADAPTIVE NEUROMORPHIC MECHANORECEPTORS FOR NEXT GENERATION SENSORYMOTOR REHABILITATION

Touch remains the the least biomimetically encoded human sense in today’s intelligent systems. Existing electronic (e)-skins rely on externally powered, wiring-intensive, and rigid architectures that decentralize sensing, processing, and actuation, hindering translation toward meaningful end-to-end, portable human-machine interfaces. NeuMore intends to address a fundamental bottleneck at the frontier of bioelectronics and artificial intelligence: the absence of tactile systems capable of matching energy efficiency, adaptivity, and neural encoding of biological mechanoreceptors. To do so, NeuMore will pioneer an energy autonomous neuromorphic e-skin that can address the sustainability of both sensing operation and data processing at the edge. Novel biocompatible materials and devices architectures will be developed to deliver self-powered tactile sensors based on triboelectric nanogenerators (TENGs) smartly coupled to organic neuromorphic circuits. NeuMore’s adaptive neuromorphic mechanoreceptors will harvest energy from touch to perform a first layer of edge-data processing at minimum energy cost and support downstream neurointerfaces operating low-power biomimetic encoding and neurostimulation of the upper limb for rehabilitation in patient with sensorimotor impairments. This breakthrough is high-risk because it challenges the conventional boundary between sensor, processor and neurointerface; it is high-gain because it opens a path toward autonomous tactile edge-systems able not only to perceive touch, but to biomimetically encode data and relay it in a form compatible with the nervous system. NeuSens flagship proof-of-principle in neurorehabilitation, will lay the foundations for future applications in prosthetics, robotics and wearable bioelectronics. Europe is well positioned to lead this frontier by combining expertise in sustainable electronics, neuromorphic devices, tactile encoding, and neurorehabilitation within an interdisciplinary consortium.