Neuromorphic control of organic electrochemical transistors for the actuation of a robotic hand

Daniela Rana^a^,^b, Ugo Bruno^c^,^d, Claudia Lubrano^a^,^b, Francesca Santoro^a^,^b^,^c

^aInstitute for Biological Information Processing-Bioelectronics, Forschungszentrum Juelich, 52428, Germany.

^bFaculty of Electrical Engineering and IT, RWTH Aachen, 52074, Germany.

^cItalian Institute of Technology (IIT), Via Morego 30, Genova, Italy

^dDipartimento di Chimica, Università degli Studi di Napoli “Federico II”, Complesso Universitario Monte S. Angelo, 80126, Naples, Italy.

Proceedings of Neuromorphic Materials, Devices, Circuits and Systems (NeuMatDeCaS)

VALÈNCIA, Spain, 2023 January 23rd - 25th

Organizers: Rohit Abraham John, Irem Boybat, Jason Eshraghian and Simone Fabiano

Poster, Daniela Rana, 062
Publication date: 9th January 2023

ePoster:

The human brain is one of the most complex and efficient systems found in nature. Information is transmitted through synapses, where an electrical potential is propagated through chemical bonds between neurotransmitters and receptors. In addition, the availability of neurotransmitter can modulate the electrochemical transmission of information, by potentiating or inhibiting the communication among neurons. Such ability, defined as neural plasticity, is at the base of the learning capability of the brain. [1] Nowdays, brain computer interfaces can offer a possibility for the treatment of neurological deseases, such as deep brain stimulation for Parkinson’s disease patients[2]. The main limitation of existing platforms is that they act like “passive” devices: they are able to monitor or stimulate cells activity, but without local feedback.

Neuromorphic devices could allow to overcome this limitations by taking inspiration from the parallel computing paradigm of the brain. Here, organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs) based on PEDOT:PSS are used for their ionic-to-electronic signal transduction and biocompatibility [3]. A feedback-loop control is introduced to bidirectionally modulate the organic semiconductor: the use of hydrogen peroxide allows the partial recovery of the doping level of PEDOT:PSS after its conditioning due to neurotransmitter oxidation, shown in the biohybrid synapse[4]. The computational capabilities of the closed-loop system have been demonstrated in an organic circuit, in which the artificial ‘synaptic weights’, depending on the PEDOT:PSS conductances have been controlled to induce a change in the electrical dynamics of the circuit. Furthermore, the motors of a robotic hand have been connedcted through the same neurotransmitter-mediated OECT to control the opening/closing of the hand. In future, this closed-loop system can be used to restore synaptic comunication by performing local adaptive computing.

References:

[1] Shouval et al. (2010). “Spike timing dependent plasticity: a consequence of more fundamental learning rules”. In: Frontiers in computational neuroscience 4, p. 19.

[2] Yuan et al. (2020). “Targeting neuroplasticity in patients with neurodegenerative diseases using brain stimulation techniques”. In: Translational Neurodegeneration 9.1, pp. 1–10.

[3] Bernards et al. (2007). “Steady-state and transient behavior of organic electrochemical transistors”. In: Advanced Functional Materials 17.17, pp. 3538–3544.

[4] Keene et al. (2020). “A biohybrid synapse with neurotransmitter-mediated plasticity”. In: Nature Materials 19.9, pp. 969–973.

Acknowledgements:

Francesca Santoro and Daniela Rana acknowledge the support of the European research Council starting Grant BRAIN-ACT No. 949478.

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