Cockroaches centralize control as speed and terrain uncertainty increase

The 11th International Symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines. Kobe University, Japan. 2023-06-06/09. Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines Organizing Committee.Poster Session P7

Feedback Control as a Framework for Understanding Tradeoffs in Biology

Control theory arose from a need to control synthetic systems. From regulating steam engines to tuning radios to devices capable of autonomous movement, it provided a formal mathematical basis for understanding the role of feedback in the stability (or change) of dynamical systems. It provides a framework for understanding any system with feedback regulation, including biological ones such as regulatory gene networks, cellular metabolic systems, sensorimotor dynamics of moving animals, and even ecological or evolutionary dynamics of organisms and populations. Here we focus on four case studies of the sensorimotor dynamics of animals, each of which involves the application of principles from control theory to probe stability and feedback in an organism's response to perturbations. We use examples from aquatic (electric fish station keeping and jamming avoidance), terrestrial (cockroach wall following) and aerial environments (flight control in moths) to highlight how one can use control theory to understand how feedback mechanisms interact with the physical dynamics of animals to determine their stability and response to sensory inputs and perturbations. Each case study is cast as a control problem with sensory input, neural processing, and motor dynamics, the output of which feeds back to the sensory inputs. Collectively, the interaction of these systems in a closed loop determines the behavior of the entire system.Comment: Submitted to Integr Comp Bio

The Science Behind Animal-Inspired Robotics

Presented on November 10, 2014 at 6:00 p.m. in the Clough Undergraduate Learning Commons, Room 144.Simon Sponberg is an Assistant Professor in the School of Physics at Georgia Tech.Runtime: 65:23 minutesThe 21st Century has seen an explosion of bio-inspired technology and devices. Perhaps no where has this approach been more transformative than in the field of mobile robotics. Geckos, snakes, and even cockroaches have motivated new sticky, stable, steerable robots. Yet inspiration means more than curiosity. As scientists we must unravel the scientific principles and mechanisms underlying animal performance. By studying the physics of these living systems we can inform a systematic approach to animal-inspired robotics. By doing so, we discover new properties and dynamics of complex systems -- the robots themselves even become experimental platforms to test hypotheses. We can learn the pitfalls of ignoring the evolutionary context that shaped animal locomotion and the power of non-dimensional ratios that scale across biology. In this talk, we will first explore how human technology is taking on more characteristics for which the natural world is a better teacher. We will then use several examples over the past decade of robotics research where animals have served as the inspiration, but where identification of the underlying physics has led to innovation. Finally we will discuss how new bio-physical insights emerged from studying the resulting robots as physical models for the biological systems

Within-wingstroke body oscillations shape the aerodynamic force and power of wild silkmoths

The 9.5th international symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines. Ottawa，Canada (Virtual Platform). 2021-06-22/25. Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines Organizing Committee

Emergent wingstroke in asynchronous insects and robots is governed by time-delayed strain rate feedback

The 9.5th international symposium on Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines. Ottawa，Canada (Virtual Platform). 2021-06-22/25. Adaptive Motion of Animals and Machines Organizing Committee

Tracking data for hawkmoths in wind

The zip file contains 5 data files (described in detail in the README text file). These include the raw tracked points (in the x- and y-directions) for hawkmoth and flower motion during the wind tunnel experiments. A conversion factor from pixel values to real units is included. There is also a file for the frequency response found for hawkmoths tracking flowers in wind

Centralization_data

Contains matlab files containing data and a text README file that explains the data within the file