Robots could one day have a sense of touch as sensitive as human beings.
Researchers at Edinburgh and Sheffield Universities have been examining the way our senses work using artificial mouse whiskers.
They connected the hairs to a robotic brain to see how it interpreted information about touch.
The scientists found that when the whiskers were touched, the robot brain was able to identify the direction they were moving in in the same way the human brain does.
Researchers were then able to create profiles connecting the whisker movements to the matching brain functions to produce a clearer picture of the way the brain understands the sensations of touch.
They believe the study shows that our brains learn to interpret senses through experience rather than just through instinct.
It is now hoped the findings could influence future robot design and could even lead to the development of prosthetic limbs which provide the sensation of touch.
Dr James Bednar, from Edinburgh University's School of Informatics, said: "Our findings increase our understanding of how the brain learns how to process tactile information. We hope these results will help the design of robots with senses even more finely-tuned than our own."
Professor Tony Prescott, of the University of Sheffield's Department of Psychology, said: "The next generation of robots will learn from experience just as we do. This study is helping us to understand how the brain learns, without a teacher, to extract useful information from sensory signals."
