Biology to Technology in Active Touch Sensing – Introduction to the Special Section

The six papers included in this special section address the diverse challenges of active touch sensing in robots, humans, or other animals. Of these, two papers address tactile sensing in non-human animals, two papers concern tactile behavior for artificial human hands those of robots or of upper limb prostheses, one paper provides a comparative examination of three paradigms for active touch with biomimetic whiskers and fingertips, and one paper focuses on active touch sensing of surface texture in humans. Together, these papers highlight the breadth of research in the field, and the extent of cross-disciplinary inquiry that is frequently involved.