The rodent vibrissal (whisker) system is one of the mostudwidely investigated model sensory systems in neuroscience owing to itsuddiscrete organisation from the sensory apparatus (the whisker shaft) alludthe way to the sensory cortex, its ease of manipulation, and its presenceudin common laboratory animals. Neurobiology shows us that the brainudnuclei and circuits that process vibrissal touch signals, and that controludthe positioning and movement of the whiskers, form a neural architectureudthat is a good model of how the mammalian brain, in general, coordinatesudsensing with action. In this paper we describe SCRATCHbot,uda biomimetic robot based on the rat whisker system, and show how thisudrobot is providing insight into the operation of neural systems underlyingudvibrissal control, and is helping us to understand the active sensingudstrategies that animals employ in order to boost the quality and quantityudof information provided by their sensory organs
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