2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A mechanism of insect behavior emerging through a microbrain
| Project/Area Number |
11168211
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Priority Areas (A)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Review Section |
Biological Sciences
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
SHIMOYAMA Isao Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Professor, 大学院・情報理工学系研究科, 教授 (60154332)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2001
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| Keywords | olfcatory sensorimotor / orientation behavior / lectroantennogram / neuromodulator / small mobile robot / engineering reconstruction |
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| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this study is to make a model of an olfactory information system of an insect based on biological and physiological results, to reconstruct a robot system, and to evaluate it. The investigated behavior is a pheromone orientation behavior of a male silkworm moth, that is attracted by an odor of a female moth and reaches the female.
In this study, we proposed an olfactory information system consisting of two elements. One was a model of an electroantennogram, and the other was a model of generation of orientation behavior. Considering the structure of an olfactory receptor cell and the chemical phenomena in it, the relationship between the intensity of stimuli and the amplitude of an electroantennogram was derived. That means the intensity of the pheromone stimuli can be estimated by an electroantennogram. Also using a template of a waveform of an electroantennogram, the detection can be done precisely. The validity of the models was shown using experimental results.
The proposed dynamics model is based on the fact that an activity level of LAL-VPC region, which is in an arteria cerebri media, oscillates slowly with the time constant which is determined by a neuromodulator. The model made a long time response of behavior. The simulation confirmed that very short time stimuli of pheromone made a serial pattern of orientation behavior. A small robot with these models was made, and it generated the behavior pattern in a field of pheromone. Since this robot reached a source of pheromone 15 cm away, it showed the validity of models. By comparing the behavior of the robot with one of a silkworm moth, the evaluation was made statistically.
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