Any skin-object interaction will obey the laws of contact mechanics and can therefore be decomposed into many haptic input features or unique dimensions of input. These vector components are encoded in a population of skin sensors (i.e. taxels in robotic terms), and in their first central processing in the neurons of the cuneate nucleus. This project will explore the representation of the haptic input features in the neocortical neurons in vivo. A secondment at Actronika will help develop miniaturized haptic displays adaptable to different animal species that can stimulate local skin for specific haptic input features in isolation.