We present a control-theoretic, computational model of whisking pattern generation in brainstem, and of the positive and negative feedback from sensory signals that may mediate observed behavioural effects. Experiments using high-speed video recording indicate that both inter- and intra-whisk parameters of whisking patterns in freely behaving rats are affected by contact of the whiskers with the environment (Prescott et al., SFN 2005). These effects tend both to minimise impingement of the whiskers on the environment during protraction, and to maximise the number of whiskers that make contact with a stimulus. Here, we describe a model of whisker pattern generation in brainstem, and of an associated closed sensorimotor loop. This loop runs from the pattern generator to the whisker musculature, through the interactions of the whiskers with the environment to the whisker follicles, and back up to the pattern generator. We are developing a set of artificial whiskers to form the sensor array of a mobile autonom...