Dürr V, Krause AF. Design of a biomimetic active tactile sensor for legged locomotion. In: Bidaud P, Ben Amar F, eds. Climbing and Walking Robots, and the Support Techologies for Mobile Machines. Proc. 5th Int.Conf. Climbing and Walking Robots, (CLAWAR 2002, Paris). Professional Engineering Publishing; 2002: 255-262.Many insects actively move their antennae during locomotion. In case of the stick insect, these movements are known to aid efficient leg coordination when walking on rough terrain. Based upon design principles of an insect antenna, we suggest to employ a biomimetic active tactile sensor to guide leg movements of walking machines. We analyse the impact of various kinematic parameters on the workspace of the sensor, and suggest an evolutionary optimisation technique for selecting an appropriate set of parameters for a given environment. Finally, we introduce a control circuit using parallel self-organising forward models of the antenna for active targeting- and tracking-movements. This artificial neural network controller allows online adaptation of targeting accuracy and, to some extent, extrapolation of the target trajectory
