Snake Robot Controlled by Biomimetic CPGs

Authors
Damien Blanchard1, Kazuyuki Aihara2, Timothée Levi2, *
1
GEII Deparment, IUT Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux, Talence 33400 France
2
Institute of Industrial Science (IIS), The University of Tokyo, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8505, Japan
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Corresponding Author
Timothée Levi
Received 14 October 2018, Accepted 18 December 2018, Available Online 30 March 2019.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.2991/jrnal.k.190220.010
Keywords
Snake robot; CPG; biomimetic; spiking neural network; locomotion
Abstract
The design of biomimetic robot is one popular research. To achieve this goal, the reproduction of animal locomotion is mandatory. Animal locomotion is created by the activities of Central Pattern Generator (CPG). CPGs are neural networks capable of producing rhythmic patterned outputs without rhythmic sensory or central input. We propose a network of several biomimetic CPGs using biomimetic neuron model and synaptic plasticity. This network is implemented on a field programmable gate array. We designed one unsupervised snake robot using this network of CPG. It is composed of one head wagon followed by seven slave wagons. Infrared sensors are also embedded in the head wagon. This robot can reproduce the locomotion of one snake.

Copyright
© 2019 The Authors. Published by ALife Robotics Corp. Ltd.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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