Neural Basis of Odor-source Searching Behavior in Insect Brain Systems Evaluated with a Mobile Robot

Abstract

Insects have a small number of constituent neurons in the brain. Eventually they display rather simple patterned movements; a so-called ‘instinctive behavior’. This behavior principally occurs without memory and learning. The diversity of behaviors observed in insects has been shaped by millions of years of biological evolution. The behavioral strategies employed by insects must be efficient and adaptive to circumstances which change every moment. Generating such behavior relies exclusively on the brain of the insect. Insects will become an excellent model for understanding adaptive control in biological systems which will inspire control and communication in engineered systems. We demonstrate a behavioral model based on behavioral strategies and the neural basis for generating the odor (pheromone)-source searching behavior in insects. In order to evaluate the behavioral model we have implemented this model into an insect-size mobile robot as robot behavior controllers. The robot has antennae for detecting pheromones. We demonstrate here one example of the mechanisms of adaptive control in a biological system, which will inspire control and communication in engineered systems, especially in robotics. We also demonstrate that the method using a robot system is effective for investigating sensorimotor systems.