Benoit Delhaye
Principal Investigator
I am a FNRS research associate at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium).
My research aims at understanding how tactile receptors and their associated nerve fibers encode information about contacted objects, and how the brain uses these signals to guide dexterous manipulation. Approaches include precise measurements of the skin response during object interactions, analysis and modeling of tactile afferent responses, and quantification of sensory outcomes. An important component of my work is the application of these insights towards the development of algorithms to electrically stimulate the nerve to restore somatosensory feedback in bionic hands.
I graduated as a Electro-mechanical engineer from Université catholique de Louvain (BS 2007, MS 2009) and I received a PhD in applied science (2014) from the same university for my work entitled "Skin mechanics involved in dynamic touch", this work was co-supervised by Jean-Louis Thonnard and Phillipe Lefèvre. During 2015-2018, I was a Post-Doctoral scholar at the University of Chicago, working with Sliman Bensmaia. During Sept 2018-Oct 2022, I was a FSR and then an FRS-F.N.R.S Postdoctoral Fellow at UCLouvain, working with Phillipe Lefèvre.
Benoit's publications:
2026
- [25] Duprez GHC, Doumont D, Lefèvre P, Delhaye BP, Delannay L (2026)
Collagen Shapes Fingertip Surface Strains during Normal Loading.
openRxiv - [24] Doumont D, Lefevre P, Delhaye BP (2026)
Whole-fingertip 3D Skin Surface Deformation under Tangential Loading.
openRxiv
2025
- [23] Doumont D, Kao AR, Lambert J, Wielant F, Gerling GJ, Delhaye BP, Lefèvre P (2025)
3-D Reconstruction of Fingertip Deformation During Contact Initiation.
Multisensory Research :1-26 - [22] Corniani G, Lee ZS, Carré MJ, Lewis R, Delhaye BP, Saal HP (2025)
Sub-surface deformation of individual fingerprint ridges during tactile interactions.
eLife 13
2024
- [21] Duprez GHC, Delhaye BP, Delannay L (2024)
Collagen Induces Anisotropy in Fingertip Subcutaneous Tissues During Contact.
IEEE Transactions on Haptics 17(4):753-760 - [20] Delhaye BP, Schiltz F, Crevecoeur F, Thonnard JL, Lefèvre P (2024)
Fast grip force adaptation to friction relies on localized fingerpad strains.
Science Advances 10(3)
2023
- [19] du Bois de Dunilac S, Córdova Bulens D, Lefèvre P, Redmond SJ, Delhaye BP (2023)
Biomechanics of the finger pad in response to torsion.
Journal of The Royal Society Interface 20(201) - [18] Opsomer L, Delhaye BP, Théate V, Thonnard JL, Lefèvre P (2023)
A haptic illusion created by gravity.
iScience 26(7):107246 - [17] Córdova Bulens D, du Bois de Dunilac S, Delhaye BP, Lefèvre P, Redmond SJ (2023)
Open-Source Instrumented Object to Study Dexterous Object Manipulation.
eneuro 11(1):ENEURO.0211-23.2023
2022
- [16] Schiltz F, Delhaye BP, Thonnard JL, Lefevre P (2022)
Grip Force is Adjusted at a Level That Maintains an Upper Bound on Partial Slip Across Friction Conditions During Object Manipulation.
IEEE Transactions on Haptics 15(1):2-7
2021
- [15] Delhaye BP, Jarocka E, Barrea A, Thonnard JL, Edin B, Lefèvre P (2021)
High-resolution imaging of skin deformation shows that afferents from human fingertips signal slip onset.
eLife 10 - [14] Delhaye BP, Schiltz F, Barrea A, Thonnard JL, Lefèvre P (2021)
Measuring fingerpad deformation during active object manipulation.
Journal of Neurophysiology 126(4):1455-1464
2020
- [13] Ozdamar I, Alipour MR, Delhaye BP, Lefevre P, Basdogan C (2020)
Step-Change in Friction Under Electrovibration.
IEEE Transactions on Haptics 13(1):137-143
2019
- [12] Delhaye BP, O'Donnell MK, Lieber JD, McLellan KR, Bensmaia SJ (2019)
Feeling fooled: Texture contaminates the neural code for tactile speed.
PLOS Biology 17(8):e3000431 - [11] Delhaye BP, Xia X, Bensmaia SJ (2019)
Rapid geometric feature signaling in the simulated spiking activity of a complete population of tactile nerve fibers.
Journal of Neurophysiology 121(6):2071-2082
2018
- [10] Delhaye BP, Long KH, Bensmaia SJ (2018)
Neural Basis of Touch and Proprioception in Primate Cortex.
Comprehensive Physiology :1575-1602 - [9] Graczyk EL, Delhaye BP, Schiefer MA, Bensmaia SJ, Tyler DJ (2018)
Sensory adaptation to electrical stimulation of the somatosensory nerves.
Journal of Neural Engineering 15(4):046002 - [8] Barrea A, Delhaye BP, Lefèvre P, Thonnard JL (2018)
Perception of partial slips under tangential loading of the fingertip.
Scientific Reports 8(1)
2017
- [7] Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Rayhaun BC, Bensmaia SJ (2017)
Simulating tactile signals from the whole hand with millisecond precision.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 114(28)
2016
- [6] Delhaye BP, Saal HP, Bensmaia SJ (2016)
Key considerations in designing a somatosensory neuroprosthesis.
Journal of Physiology-Paris 110(4):402-408 - [5] Delhaye B, Barrea A, Edin BB, Lefèvre P, Thonnard JL (2016)
Surface strain measurements of fingertip skin under shearing.
Journal of The Royal Society Interface 13(115):20150874 - [4] Graczyk EL, Schiefer MA, Saal HP, Delhaye BP, Bensmaia SJ, Tyler DJ (2016)
The neural basis of perceived intensity in natural and artificial touch.
Science Translational Medicine 8(362) - [3] Delhaye BP, Schluter EW, Bensmaia SJ (2016)
Robo-Psychophysics: Extracting Behaviorally Relevant Features from the Output of Sensors on a Prosthetic Finger.
IEEE Transactions on Haptics 9(4):499-507
2014
- [2] Delhaye B, Lefèvre P, Thonnard JL (2014)
Dynamics of fingertip contact during the onset of tangential slip.
Journal of The Royal Society Interface 11(100):20140698
2012
- [1] Delhaye B, Hayward V, Lefèvre P, Thonnard JL (2012)
Texture-induced vibrations in the forearm during tactile exploration.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience 6
