Fig. 1: Illustration of the vibrissae-inspired whisker array.

a Schematic of whisker-based tactile perception in mice. Active whisking enables tactile sensing and guides behavioral responses to external stimuli. b Mice can localize object position through small whisker movements. c Schematic of a natural whisker. Within each follicle, mechanoreceptors detect follicle rotation driven by intrinsic muscles or shaft deflection caused by external contact. These signals encode direction, velocity, duration of displacement, and torque⁵³. d Artificial whisker filament inspired by biological morphology. e Bioinspired whisker array designed for tactile sensing and object interaction. f Mechanical layout of the whisker array system. g Actuation mechanism of the array: whiskers rotate under magnetic torque generated by voltage-controlled pulses. h Perception mechanism of the array: a camera tracks the motion of each whisker via visual markers. i The vibrissae-inspired whisker array can be integrated with commercial robotic platforms for downstream tasks. j Demonstrated applications include object classification, airflow sensing, waterflow sensing, viscosity estimation, and object grasping. a Reproduced from refs. ^54,55, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Copyright 2020, the authors. b Reproduced from ref. ⁵⁶, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Copyright 2007, the authors, published by PLOS. c Adapted from ref. ⁵⁷ (licensed under CC BY 4.0; Copyright 2022, the authors, published by Elsevier) and ref. ⁵⁸ (open access under terms equivalent to CC BY; Copyright 2011, the authors, published by Frontiers).