Neuro-Skins: Dynamics, Plasticity and Effect of Neuron Type and Cell Size on Their Response

We are introducing a new type of membrane, called neuro-skin or neuro-membrane. It is comprised of neurons embedded in a plastic membrane. The skin is smart and adaptive and is capable of providing desirable response to inputs intelligently. This way, the neuro-skin can be considered as a new type of neural network with adaptivity and learning capabilities. However, in this paper, only the response of neuro-skins to a dynamic input is studied. The membrane is modelled by nonlinear dynamic finite elements. Each finite element is considered as a cell of the neuro-skin which has a neuron. The neuron is the intelligent nucleus of the element. So, the finite elements are called finite neuro-elements (FNEs). Each FNE receives feedback excitation from its own neuron, as well as from its neighbouring neurons. Contrary to dynamic plastic continuous neural networks previously studied by the authors, the neurons in a neuro-skin do not apply concentrated loads but they apply traction stresses to the surface of NFEs. The membrane is in fact a skin made up of intelligent cells representing both neural activity and mechanical plasticity. The effect of neuron type and cell size on the response of neuro-skins is studied. Trainability is another issue which is not discussed in this paper. We have used the terms neuro-skin and neuro-membrane interchangeably.