Abstract
Insects exhibit adaptive and versatile locomotion despite their minimal neural computing. Such locomotor patterns are generated via coordination between leg movements, i.e., an interlimb coordination, which is largely controlled in a distributed manner by neural circuits located in thoracic ganglia. However, the mechanism responsible for the interlimb coordination still remains elusive. Understanding this mechanism will help us to elucidate the fundamental control principle of animals' agile locomotion and to realize robots with legs that are truly adaptive and could not be developed solely by conventional control theories. This study aims at providing a “minimal" model of the interlimb coordination mechanism underlying hexapedal locomotion, in the hope that a single control principle could satisfactorily reproduce various aspects of insect locomotion. To this end, we introduce a novel concept we named “Tegotae,” a Japanese concept describing the extent to which a perceived reaction matches an expectation. By using the Tegotae-based approach, we show that a surprisingly systematic design of local sensory feedback mechanisms essential for the interlimb coordination can be realized. We also use a hexapod robot we developed to show that our mathematical model of the interlimb coordination mechanism satisfactorily reproduces various insects' gait patterns.
Highlights
IntroductionInsects exhibit tremendously versatile gait patterns owing to their locomotion speed and physical/environmental conditions (Hughes, 1957; Graham, 1972, 1977; Cruse, 1976; Foth and Graham, 1983a,b; Dean, 1991; Zollikofer, 1994a,b,c; Noah et al, 2004; Goldman et al, 2006; Sponberg and Full, 2008; Grabowska et al, 2012; Wosnitza et al, 2013)
Biological findings suggest that interlimb coordination in hexapedal locomotion is controlled largely in a decentralized manner by neural networks located in thoracic ganglia (Pearson and Iles, 1969, 1973; Bässler and Wegner, 1983; Dean, 1989; Brekowitz and Laurent, 1996)
To verify the proposed control scheme in the real world, we conducted five experiments: (i) steady walking, (ii) gait transition according to locomotion speed, (iii) adaptability to change in weight distribution, (iv) adaptability to leg amputation, and (v) effect of local sensory feedback
Summary
Insects exhibit tremendously versatile gait patterns owing to their locomotion speed and physical/environmental conditions (Hughes, 1957; Graham, 1972, 1977; Cruse, 1976; Foth and Graham, 1983a,b; Dean, 1991; Zollikofer, 1994a,b,c; Noah et al, 2004; Goldman et al, 2006; Sponberg and Full, 2008; Grabowska et al, 2012; Wosnitza et al, 2013) These locomotor patterns are generated via their interlimb coordination mechanism.
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