Haptic Perception via the Dynamics of Flexible Body Inspired by an Ostrich's Neck

Abstract: In biological systems, both skin sensitivity and body flexibility play crucial roles in haptic perception. Fully soft robots often suffer from structural fragility and delayed sensory processing, limiting their practical functionality. The musculoskeletal system combines the adaptability of soft materials with the durability of rigid-body robots. It also leverages morphological computation, where the morphological structures contribute to information processing, for dynamic and adaptive behaviors. This study focuses on the pecking behaviors of birds, which enables precise haptic perception through the musculoskeletal system of their flexible neck. Physical reservoir computing is applied to flexible structures inspired by an ostrich neck to analyze the relationship between haptic perception and physical characteristics. Experiments with both a physical robot and simulations reveal that, with appropriate viscoelasticity, the flexible structure can discriminate object softness and retain that information through behavior. Drawing on these findings and anatomical insights from the ostrich neck, a haptic perception system is proposed that exhibits both separability and behavioral memory in flexible structures, enabling rapid learning and real-time inference. The results demonstrate that through the dynamics of flexible structures, diverse functions can emerge beyond their original design as manipulators.