Tactile, interactive neuromorphic robots

A neuromorphic robot comprising:

• a curved outer housing that forms a continuous curved outer surface;
• a plurality of trackball touch sensors provided on and extending across the continuous curved outer surface in an array, each trackball sensor being configured to (i) detect a direction and velocity of a sweeping stroke of a user touching the outer surface, and (ii) encode signals, in response to the sweeping stroke, indicative of the direction and velocity of the sweeping stroke;
• a plurality of lights, one light being collocated with each trackball touch sensor and being configured to illuminate when its collocated trackball touch sensor is touched by the sweeping stroke of the user;
• and
• a primary controller configured to interpret, based on the encoded signals, the sweeping stroke of the user sensed with the plurality of trackball touch sensors to provide immediate visual feedback to the user at the locations of the touched trackball touch sensors.