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The intertwining of space and time poses a significant scientific challenge, transcending disciplines from philosophy and physics to neuroscience. Deciphering neural coding, marked by its inherent spatial and temporal dimensions, has proven to be a complex task. In this paper, we present insights into temporal and spatial modes of neural coding and their intricate interplay, drawn from neuroscientific findings. We illustrate the conversion of a purely spatial input into the temporal form of a singular spike train, demonstrating storage, transmission to remote locations, and recall through spike bursts corresponding to Sharp Wave Ripples. Moreover, the converted temporal representation can be transformed back into a spatiotemporal pattern. The principles of the transformation process are illustrated using a simple feed-forward spiking neural network. The frequencies and phases of Subthreshold Membrane potential Oscillations play a pivotal role in this framework. The model offers insights into information multiplexing and phenomena such as stretching or compressing time of spike patterns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exactly 100 years ago, Louis Lapicque published a paper on the excitability of nerves that is often cited in the context of integrate-and-fire neurons. We discuss Lapicque’s contributions along with a translation of the original publication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Retrieval of episodic memories requires intrinsic reactivation of neuronal activity patterns. The content of the memories is thereby assumed to be stored in synaptic connections. This paper proposes a theory in which these are the synaptic connections that specifically convey the temporal order information contained in the sequences of a neuronal reservoir to the sensory-motor cortical areas that give rise to the subjective impression of retrieval of sensory motor events. The theory is based on a novel recursive version of support vector regression that allows for efficient continuous learning that is only limited by the representational capacity of the reservoir. The paper argues that hippocampal theta sequences are a potential neural substrate underlying this reservoir. The theory is consistent with confabulations and post hoc alterations of existing memories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noises are ubiquitous in sensorimotor interactions and contaminate the information provided to the central nervous system (CNS) for motor learning. An interesting question is how the CNS manages motor learning with imprecise information. Integrating ideas from reinforcement learning and adaptive optimal control, this paper develops a novel computational mechanism to explain the robustness of human motor learning to the imprecise information, caused by control-dependent noise that exists inherently in the sensorimotor systems. Starting from an initial admissible control policy, in each learning trial the mechanism collects and uses the noisy sensory data (caused by the control-dependent noise) to form an imprecise evaluation of the performance of the current policy and then constructs an updated policy based on the imprecise evaluation. As the number of learning trials increases, the generated policies mathematically provably converge to a (potentially small) neighborhood of the optimal policy under mild conditions, despite the imprecise information in the learning process. The mechanism directly synthesizes the policies from the sensory data, without identifying an internal forward model. Our preliminary computational results on two classic arm reaching tasks are in line with experimental observations reported in the literature. The model-free control principle proposed in the paper sheds more lights into the inherent robustness of human sensorimotor systems to the imprecise information, especially control-dependent noise, in the CNS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting small moving targets against a cluttered background in visual data is a challenging task. The main problems include spatio-temporal target contrast enhancement, background suppression and accurate target segmentation. When targets are at great distances from a non-stationary camera, the difficulty of these challenges increases. In such cases the moving camera can introduce large spatial changes between frames which may cause issues in temporal algorithms; furthermore targets can approach a single pixel, thereby affecting spatial methods. Previous literature has shown that biologically inspired methods, based on the vision systems of insects, are robust to such conditions. It has also been shown that the use of divisive optic-flow inhibition with these methods enhances the detectability of small targets. However, the location within the visual pathway the inhibition should be applied was ambiguous. In this paper, we investigated the tunings of some of the optic-flow filters and use of a nonlinear transform on the optic-flow signal to modify motion responses for the purpose of suppressing false positives and enhancing small target detection. Additionally, we looked at multiple locations within the biologically inspired vision (BIV) algorithm where inhibition could further enhance detection performance, and look at driving the nonlinear transform with a global motion estimate. To get a better understanding of how the BIV algorithm performs, we compared to other state-of-the-art target detection algorithms, and look at how their performance can be enhanced with the optic-flow inhibition. Our explicit use of the nonlinear inhibition allows for the incorporation of a wider dynamic range of inhibiting signals, along with spatio-temporal filter refinement, which further increases target-background discrimination in the presence of camera motion. Extensive experiments shows that our proposed approach achieves an improvement of 25% over linearly conditioned inhibition schemes and 2.33 times the detection performance of the BIV model without inhibition. Moreover, our approach achieves between 10 and 104 times better detection performance compared to any conventional state-of-the-art moving object detection algorithm applied to the same, highly cluttered and moving scenes. Applying the nonlinear inhibition to other algorithms showed that their performance can be increased by up to 22 times. These findings show that the application of optic-flow- based signal suppression should be applied to enhance target detection from moving platforms. Furthermore, they indicate where best to look for evidence of such signals within the insect brain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The visual systems of insects are relatively simple compared to humans. However, they enable navigation through complex environments where insects perform exceptional levels of obstacle avoidance. Biology uses two separable modes of optic flow to achieve this: rapid gaze fixation (rotational motion known as saccades); and the inter-saccadic translational motion. While the fundamental process of insect optic flow has been known since the 1950's, so too has its dependence on contrast. The surrounding visual pathways used to overcome environmental dependencies are less well known. Previous work has shown promise for low-speed rotational motion estimation, but a gap remained in the estimation of translational motion, in particular the estimation of the time to impact. To consistently estimate the time to impact during inter-saccadic translatory motion, the fundamental limitation of contrast dependence must be overcome. By adapting an elaborated rotational velocity estimator from literature to work for translational motion, this paper proposes a novel algorithm for overcoming the contrast dependence of time to impact estimation using nonlinear spatio-temporal feedforward filtering. By applying bioinspired processes, approximately 15 points per decade of statistical discrimination were achieved when estimating the time to impact to a target across 360 background, distance, and velocity combinations: a 17-fold increase over the fundamental process. These results show the contrast dependence of time to impact estimation can be overcome in a biologically plausible manner. This, combined with previous results for low-speed rotational motion estimation, allows for contrast invariant computational models designed on the principles found in the biological visual system, paving the way for future visually guided systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of biologically-inspired computational models has been the focus of study ever since the artificial neuron was introduced by McCulloch and Pitts in 1943. However, a scrutiny of literature reveals that most attempts to replicate the highly efficient and complex biological visual system have been futile or have met with limited success. The recent state-of the-art computer vision models, such as pre-trained deep neural networks and vision transformers, may not be biologically inspired per se. Nevertheless, certain aspects of biological vision are still found embedded, knowingly or unknowingly, in the architecture and functioning of these models. This paper explores several principles related to visual neuroscience and the biological visual pathway that resonate, in some manner, in the architectural design and functioning of contemporary computer vision models. The findings of thissurvey can provideuseful insights for building futuristic bio-inspired computer vision models. The survey is conducted from a historical perspective, tracing the biological connections of computer vision models starting with the basic artificial neuron to modern technologies such as deep convolutional neural network (CNN) and spiking neural networks (SNN). One spotlight of the survey is a discussion on biologically plausible neural networks and bio-inspired unsupervised learning mechanisms adapted for computer vision tasks in recent times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the raison d’etre of the brain is the survival of the body, there are relatively few theoretical studies of closed-loop rhythmic motor control systems. In this paper we provide a unified framework, based on variational analysis, for investigating the dual goals of performance and robustness in powerstroke–recovery systems. To demonstrate our variational method, we augment two previously published closed-loop motor control models by equipping each model with a performance measure based on the rate of progress of the system relative to a spatially extended external substrate—such as a long strip of seaweed for a feeding task, or progress relative to the ground for a locomotor task. The sensitivity measure quantifies the ability of the system to maintain performance in response to external perturbations, such as an applied load. Motivated by a search for optimal design principles for feedback control achieving the complementary requirements of efficiency and robustness, we discuss the performance–sensitivity patterns of the systems featuring different sensory feedback architectures. In a paradigmatic half-center oscillator-motor system, we observe that the excitation–inhibition property of feedback mechanisms determines the sensitivity pattern while the activation–inactivation property determines the performance pattern. Moreover, we show that the nonlinearity of the sigmoid activation of feedback signals allows the existence of optimal combinations of performance and sensitivity. In a detailed hindlimb locomotor system, we find that a force-dependent feedback can simultaneously optimize both performance and robustness, while length-dependent feedback variations result in significant performance-versus-sensitivity tradeoffs. Thus, this work provides an analytical framework for studying feedback control of oscillations in nonlinear dynamical systems, leading to several insights that have the potential to inform the design of control or rehabilitation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a theoretical model of the control and perception mechanism in human balance. Human balance perception is evaluated by the subjective upright posture, the posture at which a person does not feel he/she is at an incline. Our balance experiments in the seated posture showed that the subjective upright posture changed after the balancing task where the participants needed to incline to maintain their balance. This paper aimed to explain this adaptive phenomenon by reproducing the experimental results using computer simulations. Hypothesizing that "humans gradually come to recognize the posture they need to take to maintain their balance as being upright," an adaptation rule for subjective upright posture is defined, so that it approaches the averaged posture in the period of the balancing task. For the balance control, center of pressure feedback is adopted. As a result, the similar changes in subjective upright posture are simulated with a two-link model with a base link, implying that our hypothesis is one possible explanation on the mechanism for human balance control and perception. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Bourlard and Kamp (Biol Cybern 59(4):291–294, 1998), it was theoretically proven that autoencoders (AE) with single hidden layer (previously called "auto-associative multilayer perceptrons") were, in the best case, implementing singular value decomposition (SVD) Golub and Reinsch (Linear algebra, Singular value decomposition and least squares solutions, pp 134–151. Springer, 1971), equivalent to principal component analysis (PCA) Hotelling (Educ Psychol 24(6/7):417–441, 1993); Jolliffe (Principal component analysis, springer series in statistics, 2nd edn. Springer, New York). That is, AE are able to derive the eigenvalues that represent the amount of variance covered by each component even with the presence of the nonlinear function (sigmoid-like, or any other nonlinear functions) present on their hidden units. Today, with the renewed interest in "deep neural networks" (DNN), multiple types of (deep) AE are being investigated as an alternative to manifold learning Cayton (Univ California San Diego Tech Rep 12(1–17):1, 2005) for conducting nonlinear feature extraction or fusion, each with its own specific (expected) properties. Many of those AE are currently being developed as powerful, nonlinear encoder–decoder models, or used to generate reduced and discriminant feature sets that are more amenable to different modeling and classification tasks. In this paper, we start by recalling and further clarifying the main conclusions of Bourlard and Kamp (Biol Cybern 59(4):291–294, 1998), supporting them by extensive empirical evidences, which were not possible to be provided previously (in 1988), due to the dataset and processing limitations. Upon full understanding of the underlying mechanisms, we show that it remains hard (although feasible) to go beyond the state-of-the-art PCA/SVD techniques for auto-association. Finally, we present a brief overview on different autoencoder models that are mainly in use today and discuss their rationale, relations and application areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If we are ever to move beyond the study of isolated special cases in theoretical neuroscience, we need to develop more general theories of neural circuits over a given neural model. The present paper considers this challenge in the context of continuous-time recurrent neural networks (CTRNNs), a simple but dynamically universal model that has been widely utilized in both computational neuroscience and neural networks. Here, we extend previous work on the parameter space structure of codimension-1 local bifurcations in CTRNNs to include codimension-2 local bifurcation manifolds. Specifically, we derive the necessary conditions for all generic local codimension-2 bifurcations for general CTRNNs, specialize these conditions to circuits containing from one to four neurons, illustrate in full detail the application of these conditions to example circuits, derive closed-form expressions for these bifurcation manifolds where possible, and demonstrate how this analysis allows us to find and trace several global codimension-1 bifurcation manifolds that originate from the codimension-2 bifurcations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information about time-dependent sensory stimuli is encoded in the activity of neural populations; distinct aspects of the stimulus are read out by different types of neurons: while overall information is perceived by integrator cells, so-called coincidence detector cells are driven mainly by the synchronous activity in the population that encodes predominantly high-frequency content of the input signal (high-pass information filtering). Previously, an analytically accessible statistic called the partial synchronous output was introduced as a proxy for the coincidence detector cell's output in order to approximate its information transmission. In the first part of the current paper, we compare the information filtering properties (specifically, the coherence function) of this proxy to those of a simple coincidence detector neuron. We show that the latter's coherence function can indeed be well-approximated by the partial synchronous output with a time scale and threshold criterion that are related approximately linearly to the membrane time constant and firing threshold of the coincidence detector cell. In the second part of the paper, we propose an alternative theory for the spectral measures (including the coherence) of the coincidence detector cell that combines linear-response theory for shot-noise driven integrate-and-fire neurons with a novel perturbation ansatz for the spectra of spike-trains driven by colored noise. We demonstrate how the variability of the synaptic weights for connections from the population to the coincidence detector can shape the information transmission of the entire two-stage system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to integrate different bodies of research including brain traveling waves, brain neuromodulation, neural field modeling and post-stroke language disorders in order to explore the opportunity of implementing model-guided, cortical neuromodulation for the treatment of post-stroke aphasia. Worldwide according to WHO, strokes are the second leading cause of death and the third leading cause of disability. In ischemic stroke, there is not enough blood supply to provide enough oxygen and nutrients to parts of the brain, while in hemorrhagic stroke, there is bleeding within the enclosed cranial cavity. The present paper focuses on ischemic stroke. We first review accumulating observations of traveling waves occurring spontaneously or triggered by external stimuli in healthy subjects as well as in patients with brain disorders. We examine the putative functions of these waves and focus on post-stroke aphasia observed when brain language networks become fragmented and/or partly silent, thus perturbing the progression of traveling waves across perilesional areas. Secondly, we focus on a simplified model based on the current literature in the field and describe cortical traveling wave dynamics and their modulation. This model uses a biophysically realistic integro-differential equation describing spatially distributed and synaptically coupled neural networks producing traveling wave solutions. The model is used to calculate wave parameters (speed, amplitude and/or frequency) and to guide the reconstruction of the perturbed wave. A stimulation term is included in the model to restore wave propagation to a reasonably good level. Thirdly, we examine various issues related to the implementation model-guided neuromodulation in the treatment of post-stroke aphasia given that closed-loop invasive brain stimulation studies have recently produced encouraging results. Finally, we suggest that modulating traveling waves by acting selectively and dynamically across space and time to facilitate wave propagation is a promising therapeutic strategy especially at a time when a new generation of closed-loop cortical stimulation systems is about to arrive on the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider a noisy network of nonlinear systems in the sense that each system is driven by two sources of state-dependent noise: (1) an intrinsic noise that can be generated by the environment or any internal fluctuations and (2) a noisy coupling which is generated by interactions with other systems. Our goal is to understand the effect of noise and coupling on synchronization behaviors of such networks. First, we assume that all the systems are driven by a common noise and show how a common noise can be detrimental or beneficial for network synchronization behavior. Then, we assume that the systems are driven by independent noise and study network approximate synchronization behavior. We numerically illustrate our results using the example of coupled Van der Pol oscillators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stochastic oscillations can be characterized by a corresponding point process; this is a common practice in computational neuroscience, where oscillations of the membrane voltage under the influence of noise are often analyzed in terms of the interspike interval statistics, specifically the distribution and correlation of intervals between subsequent threshold-crossing times. More generally, crossing times and the corresponding interval sequences can be introduced for different kinds of stochastic oscillators that have been used to model variability of rhythmic activity in biological systems. In this paper we show that if we use the so-called mean-return-time (MRT) phase isochrons (introduced by Schwabedal and Pikovsky) to count the cycles of a stochastic oscillator with Markovian dynamics, the interphase interval sequence does not show any linear correlations, i.e., the corresponding sequence of passage times forms approximately a renewal point process. We first outline the general mathematical argument for this finding and illustrate it numerically for three models of increasing complexity: (i) the isotropic Guckenheimer–Schwabedal–Pikovsky oscillator that displays positive interspike interval (ISI) correlations if rotations are counted by passing the spoke of a wheel; (ii) the adaptive leaky integrate-and-fire model with white Gaussian noise that shows negative interspike interval correlations when spikes are counted in the usual way by the passage of a voltage threshold; (iii) a Hodgkin–Huxley model with channel noise (in the diffusion approximation represented by Gaussian noise) that exhibits weak but statistically significant interspike interval correlations, again for spikes counted when passing a voltage threshold. For all these models, linear correlations between intervals vanish when we count rotations by the passage of an MRT isochron. We finally discuss that the removal of interval correlations does not change the long-term variability and its effect on information transmission, especially in the neural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Motion camouflage is a stealth behaviour by which an insect can appear stationary at a fixed point while approaching or escaping another moving insect. Although several approaches have been proposed to generate motion camouflage in simulated and real agents, the exact mechanisms insects use to perform this complex behaviour are not well understood, especially considering their limited perceptual and computational resources. This paper sheds light on the possible underlying control mechanisms insect might use to generate motion camouflage, by training and analysing a series of motion camouflage controllers using reinforcement learning. We first investigate through simulations the most relevant information available to the insect that can be used to perform motion camouflage and analyse the learnt controllers. The results of this analysis drove us to hypothesise two simpler control mechanisms which, we show, can also generate motion camouflage. The proposed controllers are an extension of proportional navigation, another interception technique found in nature, and therefore, both animal behaviours seem to be connected. Motion camouflage can lead, among others, to novel approaches to closely observe animals in the wild, record sports events or gather information in military operations without being noticed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain–machine interface (BMI) can realize information interaction between the brain and external devices, and yet the control accuracy is limited by the change of electroencephalogram signals. The introduction of auxiliary controller can overcome the above problems, but the performance of different auxiliary controllers is quite different. Hence, in this paper, we comprehensively compare and analyze the performance of different auxiliary controllers to provide a theoretical basis for designing BMI system. The main work includes: (1) designing four kinds of auxiliary controllers based on simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation-function approximator (SPSA-FA), iterative feedback tuning-PID (IFT-PID), model predictive control (MPC) and model-free control (MFC); (2) based on the model of improved single-joint information transmission, constructing the closed-loop BMI systems with the decoder-based Wiener filter; and (3) comparing their performance in the constructed closed-loop BMI systems for dynamic motion restoration. The results show that the order of tracking accuracy is MPC, IFT-PID, SPSA-FA, MFC, and the order of time consumed is opposite. A good control effectiveness is achieved at the expense of time, so a suitable auxiliary controller should be selected according to the actual requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural phenomena can be quantitatively described by means of mathematics, which is actually the only way of doing so. Physics is a convincing example of the mathematization of nature. This paper gives an answer to the question of how mathematization of nature is done and illustrates the answer. Here nature is to be taken in a wide sense, being a substantial object of study in, among others, large domains of biology, such as epidemiology and neurobiology, chemistry, and physics, the most outspoken example. It is argued that mathematization of natural phenomena needs appropriate core concepts that are intimately connected with the phenomena one wants to describe and explain mathematically. Second, there is a scale on and not beyond which a specific description holds. Different scales allow for different conceptual and mathematical descriptions. This is the scaling hypothesis, which has meanwhile been confirmed on many occasions. Furthermore, a mathematical description can, as in physics, but need not be universally valid, as in biology. Finally, the history of science shows that only an intensive gauging of theory, i.e., mathematical description, by experiment leads to progress. That is, appropriate core concepts and appropriate scales are a necessary condition for mathematizing nature, and so is its verification by experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the unique hunting behavior of archerfish has received considerable scientific attention, the specific social cues that govern behaviors like intraspecific kleptoparasitism in the species are less understood. This paper asks whether the use of a robotic facsimile representing an archerfish can elicit a social response if it approximates an archerfish's appearance, along with key features of its hunting behavior. We found that the fish respond to the robot when it hunted, as indicated by decreasing distances between the robot and fish (and among the fish) during the robot's hunting behavior sequence, as well as higher net transfer entropy when the robot was hunting. These effects were present even when the robot's "hunt" was unproductive and did not result in food. The temporal pattern of fish approach to the robot and each other indicated that the segment of robot hunting behavior proximal to the robotic facsimile shot elicited fish behavior initially. However, earlier cues in the robot's hunting sequence became important following more experience with a food contingency. This indicates that further studies could use a robotic facsimile to conduct a detailed stimulus analysis, changing aspects of the robot's appearance and behavior to uncover the basic mechanisms of information transfer among individuals in a social hunting scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In several papers published in Biological Cybernetics in the 1980s and 1990s, Kawato and colleagues proposed computational models explaining how internal models are acquired in the cerebellum. These models were later supported by neurophysiological experiments using monkeys and neuroimaging experiments involving humans. These early studies influenced neuroscience from basic, sensory-motor control to higher cognitive functions. One of the most perplexing enigmas related to internal models is to understand the neural mechanisms that enable animals to learn large-dimensional problems with so few trials. Consciousness and metacognition—the ability to monitor one's own thoughts, may be part of the solution to this enigma. Based on literature reviews of the past 20 years, here we propose a computational neuroscience model of metacognition. The model comprises a modular hierarchical reinforcement-learning architecture of parallel and layered, generative-inverse model pairs. In the prefrontal cortex, a distributed executive network called the "cognitive reality monitoring network" (CRMN) orchestrates conscious involvement of generative-inverse model pairs in perception and action. Based on mismatches between computations by generative and inverse models, as well as reward prediction errors, CRMN computes a "responsibility signal" that gates selection and learning of pairs in perception, action, and reinforcement learning. A high responsibility signal is given to the pairs that best capture the external world, that are competent in movements (small mismatch), and that are capable of reinforcement learning (small reward-prediction error). CRMN selects pairs with higher responsibility signals as objects of metacognition, and consciousness is determined by the entropy of responsibility signals across all pairs. This model could lead to new-generation AI, which exhibits metacognition, consciousness, dimension reduction, selection of modules and corresponding representations, and learning from small samples. It may also lead to the development of a new scientific paradigm that enables the causal study of consciousness by combining CRMN and decoded neurofeedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More and more, the neurosciences and the sciences concerned with mind and cognition are burying fundamental questions under layers of professional methodology. I therefore welcome Biological Cybernetics' invitation to comment on two of my papers, (von der Malsburg 1973) and (von der Malsburg and Schneider 1986) (henceforth referred to as (I) and (II)) as an opportunity to address two fundamental questions about brain and mind: How is the brain's structure generated? and How is mental content expressed by the brain's physical states? Those two questions are deeply entangled with each other and play a kind of gateway role on the way to making progress with the issues of perception, intelligence, creativity and consciousness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We celebrate the 60th anniversary of Biological Cybernetics. It has also been 30 years since "Self-organized control of bipedal locomotion by neural oscillators in unpredictable environment" was published in Biological Cybernetics (Taga et al. in Biol Cybern 65(3):147–159, 1991). I would like to look back on the creation of this paper and discuss its subsequent development and future perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Maintaining balance is an essential skill regulated by the central nervous system (CNS) that helps humans to function effectively. Developing a physiologically motivated computational model of a neural controller with good performance is a central component for a large range of potential applications, such as the development of therapeutic and assistive devices, diagnosis of balance disorders, and designing robotic control systems. In this paper, we characterize the biomechanics of postural control system by considering the musculoskeletal dynamics in the sagittal plane, proprioceptive feedback, and a neural controller. The model includes several physiological structures, such as the feedforward and feedback mechanism, sensory noise, and proprioceptive feedback delays. A high-gain observer (HGO)-based feedback linearization controller represents the CNS analog in the modeling paradigm. The HGO gives an estimation of delayed states and the feedback linearization control law generates the feedback torques at joints to execute postural recovery movements. The whole scheme is simulated in MATLAB/Simulink. The simulation results show that our proposed scheme is robust against larger perturbations, sensory noises, feedback delays and retains a strong disturbance rejection and trajectory tracking capability. Overall, these results demonstrate that the nonlinear system dynamics, the feedforward and feedback mechanism, and physiological latencies play a key role in shaping the motor control process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model reduction is a central problem in mathematical biology. Reduced order models enable modeling of a biological system at different levels of complexity and the quantitative analysis of its properties, like sensitivity to parameter variations and resilience to exogenous perturbations. However, available model reduction methods often fail to capture a diverse range of nonlinear behaviors observed in biology, such as multistability and limit cycle oscillations. The paper addresses this need using differential analysis. This approach leads to a nonlinear enhancement of classical balanced truncation for biological systems whose behavior is not restricted to the stability of a single equilibrium. Numerical results suggest that the proposed framework may be relevant to the approximation of classical models of biological systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does your brain decide what you will do next? Over the past few decades compelling evidence has emerged that the basal ganglia, a collection of nuclei in the fore- and mid-brain of all vertebrates, are vital to action selection. Gurney, Prescott, and Redgrave published an influential computational account of this idea in Biological Cybernetics in 2001. Here we take a look back at this pair of papers, outlining the "GPR" model contained therein, the context of that model's development, and the influence it has had over the past twenty years. Tracing its lineage into models and theories still emerging now, we are encouraged that the GPR model is that rare thing, a computational model of a brain circuit whose advances were directly built on by others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Octopus cells in the posteroventral cochlear nucleus exhibit characteristic onset responses to broad band transients but are little investigated in response to more complex sound stimuli. In this paper, we propose a phenomenological, but biophysically motivated, modeling approach that allows to simulate responses of large populations of octopus cells to arbitrary sound pressure waves. The model depends on only few parameters and reproduces basic physiological characteristics like onset firing and phase locking to amplitude modulations. Simulated responses to speech stimuli suggest that octopus cells are particularly sensitive to high-frequency transients in natural sounds and their sustained firing to phonemes provides a population code for sound level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The widely cited Haken–Kelso–Bunz (HKB) model of motor coordination is used in an enormous range of applications. In this paper, we show analytically that the weakly damped, weakly coupled HKB model of two oscillators depends on only two dimensionless parameters; the ratio of the linear damping coefficient and the linear coupling coefficient and the ratio of the combined nonlinear damping coefficients and the combined nonlinear coupling coefficients. We illustrate our results with a mechanical analogue. We use our analytic results to predict behaviours in arbitrary parameter regimes and show how this led us to explain and extend recent numerical continuation results of the full HKB model. The key finding is that the HKB model contains a significant amount of behaviour in biologically relevant parameter regimes not yet observed in experiments or numerical simulations. This observation has implications for the development of virtual partner interaction and the human dynamic clamp, and potentially for the HKB model itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key problem for biological motor control is to establish a link between an idea of a movement and the generation of a set of muscle-stimulating signals that lead to the movement execution. The number of signals to generate is thereby larger than the body's mechanical degrees of freedom in which the idea of the movement may be easily expressed, as the movement is actually executed in this space. A mathematical formulation that provides a solving link is presented in this paper in the form of a layered, hierarchical control architecture. It is meant to synthesise a wide range of complex three-dimensional muscle-driven movements. The control architecture consists of a 'conceptional layer', where the movement is planned, a 'structural layer', where the muscles are stimulated, and between both an additional 'transformational layer', where the muscle-joint redundancy is resolved. We demonstrate the operativeness by simulating human stance and squatting in a three-dimensional digital human model (DHM). The DHM considers 20 angular DoFs and 36 Hill-type muscle–tendon units (MTUs) and is exposed to gravity, while its feet contact the ground via reversible stick–slip interactions. The control architecture continuously stimulates all MTUs ('structural layer') based on a high-level, torque-based task formulation within its 'conceptional layer'. Desired states of joint angles (postural plan) are fed to two mid-level joint controllers in the 'transformational layer'. The 'transformational layer' communicates with the biophysical structures in the 'structural layer' by providing direct MTU stimulation contributions and further input signals for low-level MTU controllers. Thereby, the redundancy of the MTU stimulations with respect to the joint angles is resolved, i.e. a link between plan and execution is established, by exploiting some properties of the biophysical structures modelled. The resulting joint torques generated by the MTUs via their moment arms are fed back to the conceptional layer, closing the high-level control loop. Within our mathematical formulations of the Jacobian matrix-based layer transformations, we identify the crucial information for the redundancy solution to be the muscle moment arms, the stiffness relations of muscle and tendon tissue within the muscle model, and the length–stimulation relation of the muscle activation dynamics. The present control architecture allows the straightforward feeding of conceptional movement task formulations to MTUs. With this approach, the problem of movement planning is eased, as solely the mechanical system has to be considered in the conceptional plan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The semicircular ducts (SCDs) of the vestibular system play an instrumental role in equilibration and rotation perception of vertebrates. The present paper is a review of quantitative approaches and shows how SCDs function. It consists of three parts. First, the biophysical mechanisms of an SCD system composed of three mutually connected ducts, allowing endolymph to flow from one duct into another one, are analysed. The flow is quantified by solving the continuity equations in conjunction with the equations of motion of the SCD hydrodynamics. This leads to mathematical expressions that are suitable for further analytical and numerical analysis. Second, analytical solutions are derived through four simplifying steps while keeping the essentials of the coupled system intact. Some examples of flow distributions for different rotations are given. Third, the focus is on the transducer function of the SCDs. The complex structure of the mechano-electrical transduction apparatus inside the ampullae is described, and the consequences for sensitivity and frequency response are evaluated. Furthermore, both the contributions of the different terms of the equations of motion and the influence of Brownian motion are analysed. Finally, size limitations, allometry and evolutionary aspects are taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decoding the direction of translating objects in front of cluttered moving backgrounds, accurately and efficiently, is still a challenging problem. In nature, lightweight and low-powered flying insects apply motion vision to detect a moving target in highly variable environments during flight, which are excellent paradigms to learn motion perception strategies. This paper investigates the fruit fly Drosophila motion vision pathways and presents computational modelling based on cutting-edge physiological researches. The proposed visual system model features bio-plausible ON and OFF pathways, wide-field horizontal-sensitive (HS) and vertical-sensitive (VS) systems. The main contributions of this research are on two aspects: (1) the proposed model articulates the forming of both direction-selective and direction-opponent responses, revealed as principal features of motion perception neural circuits, in a feed-forward manner; (2) it also shows robust direction selectivity to translating objects in front of cluttered moving backgrounds, via the modelling of spatiotemporal dynamics including combination of motion pre-filtering mechanisms and ensembles of local correlators inside both the ON and OFF pathways, which works effectively to suppress irrelevant background motion or distractors, and to improve the dynamic response. Accordingly, the direction of translating objects is decoded as global responses of both the HS and VS systems with positive or negative output indicating preferred-direction or null-direction translation. The experiments have verified the effectiveness of the proposed neural system model, and demonstrated its responsive preference to faster-moving, higher-contrast and larger-size targets embedded in cluttered moving backgrounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to explore the neural mechanism underlying salamander terrestrial turning, an improved biomechanical model is proposed by modifying the forelimb structure of the existing biomechanical model. Based on the proposed improved biomechanical model, a new spinal locomotor network model is constructed which contains the interneuron networks and motoneuron pool. Control methods are also developed for the new model which increase its transient response speed, control the initial swing order of the forelimbs, and generate different walking turning gait and turning on the spot (turning without moving forward). The simulation results show that the biomechanical model controlled by the new spinal locomotor network model can generate different walking turning and turning on the spot, and can control posture and the initial swing order of the forelimbs. Moreover, the transient response speed of the proposed model is very rapid. This paper thus provides a useful tool for exploring the operational mechanism of the spinal circuitry of the salamander. In addition, the research results presented here may inspire the construction of artificial spinal control networks for bionic robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Classic studies have shown that place cells are organized along the dorsoventral axis of the hippocampus according to their field size, with dorsal hippocampal place cells having smaller field sizes than ventral place cells. Studies have also suggested that dorsal place cells are primarily involved in spatial navigation, while ventral place cells are primarily involved in context and emotional encoding. Additionally, recent work has shown that the entire longitudinal axis of the hippocampus may be involved in navigation. Based on the latter, in this paper we present a spatial cognition reinforcement learning model inspired by the multiscale organization of the dorsal–ventral axis of the hippocampus. The model analyzes possible benefits of a multiscale architecture in terms of the learning speed, the path optimality, and the number of cells in the context of spatial navigation. The model is evaluated in a goal-oriented task where simulated rats need to learn a path to the goal from multiple starting locations in various open-field maze configurations. The results show that smaller scales of representation are useful for improving path optimality, whereas larger scales are useful for reducing learning time and the number of cells required. The results also show that combining scales can enhance the performance of the multiscale model, with a trade-off between path optimality and learning time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inspired by recent biological experiments, we simulate animals moving in different environments (open space, spiral mazes and on a treadmill) to test the performances of a simple model of the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) acting as a path integration (PI) and as a categorization mechanism. The connection between the hippocampus, RSC and the entorhinal cortex is revealed through a novel perspective. We suppose that the path integration is performed by the information coming from RSC. Grid cells in the entorhinal cortex then can be built as the result of a modulo projection of RSC activity. In our model, PI is performed by a 1D field of neurons acting as a simple low-pass filter of head direction (HD) cells modulated by the linear velocity of the animal. Our paper focuses on the constraints on the HD cells shape for a good approximation of PI. Recording of neurons on our 1D PI field shows these neurons would not be intuitively interpreted as performing PI. Using inputs coming from a narrow neighbouring projection of our PI field creates place cell-like activities in the RSC when the mouse runs on the treadmill. This can be the result of local self-organizing maps representing blobs of neurons in the RSC (e.g. cortical columns). Other simulations show that accessing the whole PI field would induce place cells whatever the environment is. Since this property is not observed, we conclude that the categorization neurons in the RSC should have access to only a small fraction of the PI field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This hybrid of review and personal essay argues that models of visual construction are essential to extend spatial navigation models to models that link episodic memory and imagination. The starting point is the TAM–WG model, combining the Taxon Affordance Model and the World Graph model of spatial navigation. The key here is to reject approaches in which memory is restricted to unanalyzed views from familiar places, and their later recall. Instead, we will seek mechanisms for imagining truly novel scenes and episodes. We thus introduce a specific variant of schema theory and VISIONS, a cooperative computation model of visual scene understanding in which a scene is represented by an assemblage of schema instances with links to lower-level "patches" of relevant visual data. We sketch a new conceptual framework for future modeling, Visual Integration of Diverse Multi-Modal Aspects, by extending VISIONS from static scenes to episodes combining agents, actions and objects and assess its relevance to both navigation and episodic memory. We can then analyze imagination as a constructive process that combines aspects of memories of prior episodes along with other schemas and adjusts them into a coherent whole which, through expectations associated with diverse episodes and schemas, may yield the linkage of episodes that constitutes a dream or a narrative. The result is IBSEN, a conceptual model of Imagination in Brain Systems for Episodes and Navigation. The essay closes by analyzing other papers in this Special Issue to assess to what extent their results relate to the research proposed here. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An open problem in the cognitive dimensions of navigation concerns how previous exploratory experience is reorganized in order to allow the creation of novel efficient navigation trajectories. This behavior is revealed in the "traveling salesrat problem" (TSP) when rats discover the shortest path linking baited food wells after a few exploratory traversals. We have recently published a model of navigation sequence learning, where sharp wave ripple replay of hippocampal place cells transmit "snippets" of the recent trajectories that the animal has explored to the prefrontal cortex (PFC) (Cazin et al. in PLoS Comput Biol 15:e1006624, 2019). PFC is modeled as a recurrent reservoir network that is able to assemble these snippets into the efficient sequence (trajectory of spatial locations coded by place cell activation). The model of hippocampal replay generates a distribution of snippets as a function of their proximity to a reward, thus implementing a form of spatial credit assignment that solves the TSP task. The integrative PFC reservoir reconstructs the efficient TSP sequence based on exposure to this distribution of snippets that favors paths that are most proximal to rewards. While this demonstrates the theoretical feasibility of the PFC–HIPP interaction, the integration of such a dynamic system into a real-time sensory–motor system remains a challenge. In the current research, we test the hypothesis that the PFC reservoir model can operate in a real-time sensory–motor loop. Thus, the main goal of the paper is to validate the model in simulated and real robot scenarios. Place cell activation encoding the current position of the simulated and physical rat robot feeds the PFC reservoir which generates the successor place cell activation that represents the next step in the reproduced sequence in the readout. This is input to the robot, which advances to the coded location and then generates de novo the current place cell activation. This allows demonstration of the crucial role of embodiment. If the spatial code readout from PFC is played back directly into PFC, error can accumulate, and the system can diverge from desired trajectories. This required a spatial filter to decode the PFC code to a location and then recode a new place cell code for that location. In the robot, the place cell vector output of PFC is used to physically displace the robot and then generate a new place cell coded input to the PFC, replacing part of the software recoding procedure that was required otherwise. We demonstrate how this integrated sensory–motor system can learn simple navigation sequences and then, importantly, how it can synthesize novel efficient sequences based on prior experience, as previously demonstrated (Cazin et al. 2019). This contributes to the understanding of hippocampal replay in novel navigation sequence formation and the important role of embodiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interest of central pattern generators in robot motor coordination is universally recognized so much so that a lot of possibilities on different scales of modeling are nowadays available. While each method obviously has its advantages and drawbacks, some could be more suitable for human–robot interactions. In this paper, we compare three oscillator models: Matsuoka, Hopf and Rowat–Selverston models. These models are integrated to a control architecture for a robotic arm and evaluated in simulation during a simplified handshaking interaction which involves constrained rhythmic movements. Furthermore, Hebbian plasticity mechanisms are integrated to the Hopf and Rowat–Selverston models which can incorporate such mechanisms, contrary to the Matsuoka. Results show that the Matsuoka oscillator is subpar in all aspects and for the two others, that plasticity improves synchronization and leads to a significant decrease in the power consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Roboticists have long drawn inspiration from nature to develop navigation and simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) systems such as RatSLAM. Animals such as birds and bats possess superlative navigation capabilities, robustly navigating over large, three-dimensional environments, leveraging an internal neural representation of space combined with external sensory cues and self-motion cues. This paper presents a novel neuro-inspired 4DoF (degrees of freedom) SLAM system named NeuroSLAM, based upon computational models of 3D grid cells and multilayered head direction cells, integrated with a vision system that provides external visual cues and self-motion cues. NeuroSLAM's neural network activity drives the creation of a multilayered graphical experience map in a real time, enabling relocalization and loop closure through sequences of familiar local visual cues. A multilayered experience map relaxation algorithm is used to correct cumulative errors in path integration after loop closure. Using both synthetic and real-world datasets comprising complex, multilayered indoor and outdoor environments, we demonstrate NeuroSLAM consistently producing topologically correct three-dimensional maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the modeling of spike trains in auditory nerve fiber (ANF) models with a one-memory self-exciting point process (SEPP) of the von Mises type. The ANF models were acoustically stimulated by a synaptic current of inner hair cells, or electrically stimulated by sinusoidally amplitude-modulated pulsatile waveforms. It has been shown that the parameters of one-memory SEPP of the von Mises type could be estimated by numerically maximizing the likelihood function from sample realizations of the spike trains in response to acoustic or electric stimulus. Furthermore, it was found that period histograms of the one-memory SEPP generated artificially on the basis of the estimated von Mises parameters agreed well with those of acoustic or electric stimulus, by performing the uniform-scores test. It implies that the waveforms of pulsatile electric stimuli should be selected such that the spike trains can be represented by one-memory SEPP of the von Mises type with appropriate parameters, efficiently carrying information to the cochlear implant user's brain, like that in acoustic stimulation of the healthy ear. The findings presented in this paper may play an important role in determining optimal parameters of pulsatile electric stimuli by using one-memory SEPP of the von Mises type, and further in the design of better cochlear prostheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Template models of legged locomotion are powerful tools for gait analysis, but can also inspire robot design and control. In this paper, a spring-loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model is employed to control vertical hopping of a 2-segmented legged robot. Feed-forward and bio-inspired virtual model control using the SLIP model are compared. In the latter approach, the feedback control emulates a virtual spring between hip and foot. The results demonstrate similarity of human and robot hopping. Moreover, the feedback control proves to simplify and improve hopping control. It yields better perturbation recovery and locomotion adaptation and is even easier to tune. Thus, human-like hopping is achievable using a rather simple template-based controller, which ensures the required performance, robustness and versatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the brain, networks of neurons produce activity that is decoded into perceptions and actions. How the dynamics of neural networks support this decoding is a major scientific question. That is, while we understand the basic mechanisms by which neurons produce activity in the form of spikes, whether these dynamics reflect an overlying functional objective is not understood. In this paper, we examine neuronal dynamics from a first-principles control-theoretic viewpoint. Specifically, we postulate an objective wherein neuronal spiking activity is decoded into a control signal that subsequently drives a linear system. Then, using a recently proposed principle from theoretical neuroscience, we optimize the production of spikes so that the linear system in question achieves reference tracking. It turns out that such optimization leads to a recurrent network architecture wherein each neuron possess integrative dynamics. The network amounts to an efficient, distributed event-based controller where each neuron (node) produces a spike if doing so improves tracking performance. Moreover, the dynamics provide inherent robustness properties, so that if some neurons fail, others will compensate by increasing their activity so that the tracking objective is met. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an optimal control approach to modeling effects of cardiovascular regulation during head-up tilt (HUT). Many patients who suffer from dizziness or light-headedness are administered a head-up tilt test to explore potential deficits within the autonomic control system, which maintains the cardiovascular system at homeostasis. This system is complex and difficult to study in vivo, and thus we propose to use mathematical modeling to achieve a better understanding of cardiovascular regulation during HUT. In particular, we show the feasibility of using optimal control theory to compute physiological control variables, vascular resistance and cardiac contractility, quantities that cannot be measured directly, but which are useful to assess the state of the cardiovascular system. A non-pulsatile lumped parameter model together with pseudo- and clinical data are utilized in the optimal control problem formulation. Results show that the optimal control approach can predict time-varying quantities regulated by the cardiovascular control system. Our results compare favorable to our previous study using a piecewise linear spline approach, less a priori knowledge is needed, and results were obtained at a significantly lower computational cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small inhibitory neuronal circuits have long been identified as key neuronal motifs to generate and modulate the coexisting rhythms of various motor functions. Our paper highlights the role of a cellular switching mechanism to orchestrate such circuits. The cellular switch makes the circuits reconfigurable, robust, adaptable, and externally controllable. Without this cellular mechanism, the circuit rhythms entirely rely on specific tunings of the synaptic connectivity, which makes them rigid, fragile, and difficult to control externally. We illustrate those properties on the much studied architecture of a small network controlling both the pyloric and gastric rhythms of crabs. The cellular switch is provided by a slow negative conductance often neglected in mathematical modeling of central pattern generators. We propose that this conductance is simple to model and key to computational studies of rhythmic circuit neuromodulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walking behavior is modulated by controlling joint torques in most existing passivity-based bipeds. Controlled Passive Walking with adaptable stiffness exhibits controllable natural motions and energy efficient gaits. In this paper, we propose torque-stiffness-controlled dynamic bipedal walking, which extends the concept of Controlled Passive Walking by introducing structured control parameters and a bio-inspired control method with central pattern generators. The proposed walking paradigm is beneficial in clarifying the respective effects of the external actuation and the internal natural dynamics. We present a seven-link biped model to validate the presented walking. Effects of joint torque and joint stiffness on gait selection, walking performance and walking pattern transitions are studied in simulations. The work in this paper develops a new solution of motion control of bipedal robots with adaptable stiffness and provides insights of efficient and sophisticated walking gaits of humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study provides an overview of the research activity carried out in the field of cybernetics. To do so, all research papers from 1997 to 2011 (16,445 research papers) under the category of 'Computer Science, Cybernetics' of Web of Science have been processed using our in-house software which is developed specifically for this purpose. Among its multiple capabilities, this software analyses individual and compound keywords, quantifies productivity taking into account the work distribution, estimates the impact of each article and determines the collaborations established at different scales. Keywords analysis identifies the evolution of the most important research topics in the field of cybernetics and their specificity in biological aspects, as well as the research topics with lesser interest. The analysis of productivity, impact and collaborations provides a framework to assess research activity in a specific and realistic context. The geographical and institutional distribution of publications reveals the leading countries and research centres, analysing their relation to main research journals. Moreover, collaborations analysis reveals great differences in terms of internationalization and complexity of research networks. The results of this study may be very useful for the characterization and the decisions made by research in the field of cybernetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Experimental data have shown that inherent bursting of the neuron plays an important role in the generation of rhythmic movements in spinal networks. Based on the mechanism that the spinal neurons of a lamprey generate this inherent bursting, this paper builds a simplified inherent bursting neuron model. A new locomotion control neural network is built that takes advantage of this neuron model and its performance is analyzed mathematically and by numerical simulation. From these analyses, it is found that the new control networks have no restriction on their topological structure for generating the oscillatory outputs. If a network is used to control the motion of bionic robots or build the model of the vertebrate spinal circuitry, its topological structure can be constructed using the unit burst generator model proposed by Grillner. The networks can also be easily switched between oscillatory and non-oscillatory output. Additionally, inactivity and saturation properties of the new networks can also be developed, which will be helpful to increase the motor flexibility and environmental adaptability of bionic robots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an active inference formulation of planning and navigation. It illustrates how the exploitation-exploration dilemma is dissolved by acting to minimise uncertainty (i.e. expected surprise or free energy). We use simulations of a maze problem to illustrate how agents can solve quite complicated problems using context sensitive prior preferences to form subgoals. Our focus is on how epistemic behaviour—driven by novelty and the imperative to reduce uncertainty about the world—contextualises pragmatic or goal-directed behaviour. Using simulations, we illustrate the underlying process theory with synthetic behavioural and electrophysiological responses during exploration of a maze and subsequent navigation to a target location. An interesting phenomenon that emerged from the simulations was a putative distinction between ‘place cells’—that fire when a subgoal is reached—and ‘path cells’—that fire until a subgoal is reached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonlinear oscillators are usually utilized by bionic scientists for establishing central pattern generator models for imitating rhythmic motions by bionic scientists. In the natural word, many rhythmic motions possess asymmetric time ratios, which means that the forward and the backward motions of an oscillating process sustain different times within one period. In order to model rhythmic motions with asymmetric time ratios, nonlinear oscillators with asymmetric forward and backward trajectories within one period should be studied. In this paper, based on the property of the invariant set, a method to design the closed curve in the phase plane of a dynamic system as its limit cycle is proposed. Utilizing the proposed method and considering that a cardioid curve is a kind of asymmetrical closed curves, a cardioid oscillator with asymmetric time ratios is proposed and realized. Through making the derivation of the closed curve in the phase plane of a dynamic system equal to zero, the closed curve is designed as its limit cycle. Utilizing the proposed limit cycle design method and according to the global invariant set theory, a cardioid oscillator applying a cardioid curve as its limit cycle is achieved. On these bases, the numerical simulations are conducted for analyzing the behaviors of the cardioid oscillator. The example utilizing the established cardioid oscillator to simulate rhythmic motions of the hip joint of a human body in the sagittal plane is presented. The results of the numerical simulations indicate that, whatever the initial condition is and without any outside input, the proposed cardioid oscillator possesses the following properties: (1) The proposed cardioid oscillator is able to generate a series of periodic and anti-interference self-exciting trajectories, (2) the generated trajectories possess an asymmetric time ratio, and (3) the time ratio can be regulated by adjusting the oscillator’s parameters. Furthermore, the comparison between the simulated trajectories by the established cardioid oscillator and the measured angle trajectories of the hip angle of a human body show that the proposed cardioid oscillator is fit for imitating the rhythmic motions of the hip of a human body with asymmetric time ratios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most robot navigation systems perform place recognition using a single-sensor modality and one, or at most two heterogeneous map scales. In contrast, mammals perform navigation by combining sensing from a wide variety of modalities including vision, auditory, olfactory and tactile senses with a multi-scale, homogeneous neural map of the environment. In this paper, we develop a multi-scale, multi-sensor system for mapping and place recognition that combines spatial localization hypotheses at different spatial scales from multiple different sensors to calculate an overall place recognition estimate. We evaluate the system’s performance over three repeated 1.5-km day and night journeys across a university campus spanning outdoor and multi-level indoor environments, incorporating camera, WiFi and barometric sensory information. The system outperforms a conventional camera-only localization system, with the results demonstrating not only how combining multiple sensing modalities together improves performance, but also how combining these sensing modalities over multiple scales further improves performance over a single-scale approach. The multi-scale mapping framework enables us to analyze the naturally varying spatial acuity of different sensing modalities, revealing how the multi-scale approach captures each sensing modality at its optimal operation point where a single-scale approach does not, and enables us to then weight sensor contributions at different scales based on their utility for place recognition at that scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes the design of a bipedal robotic controller where the function between the sensory input and motor output is treated as a black box derived from human data. In order to achieve this, we investigated the causal relationship between ground contact information from the feet and leg muscle activity n human walking and calculated filter functions which transform sensory signals to motor actions. A minimal, nonlinear, and robust control system was created and subsequently analysed by applying it to our bipedal robot RunBot III without any central pattern generators or precise trajectory control. The results demonstrate that our controller can generate stable robotic walking. This indicates that complex locomotion patterns can result from a simple model based on reflexes and supports the premise that human-derived control strategies have potential applications in robotics or assistive devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents “optimal identification,” a framework for using experimental data to identify the optimality conditions associated with the feedback control law implemented in the measurements. The technique compares closed loop trajectory measurements against a reduced order model of the open loop dynamics, and uses linear matrix inequalities to solve an inverse optimal control problem as a convex optimization that estimates the controller optimality conditions. In this study, the optimal identification technique is applied to two examples, that of a millimeter-scale micro-quadrotor with an engineered controller on board, and the example of a population of freely flying Drosophila hydei maneuvering about forward flight. The micro-quadrotor results show that the performance indices used to design an optimal flight control law for a micro-quadrotor may be recovered from the closed loop simulated flight trajectories, and the Drosophila results indicate that the combined effect of the insect longitudinal flight control sensing and feedback acts principally to regulate pitch rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]