Super mode-rich locomotion: how animals navigate unpredictable environments

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K14177
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 21040:Control and system engineering-related
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Yasui Kotaro 東北大学, 学際科学フロンティア研究所, 助教 (70876739)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 適応的運動知能 / 分散・中枢融合制御 / 自律分散制御 / 自己組織化 / 生物規範型ロボティクス

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Animals can adapt to changes in their environment by autonomously generating a variety of movement strategies. To extract the control structures inherent in this adaptive motor intelligence, this study focused on centipedes and attempted to elucidate the interaction between higher-level central control, such as that performed by the brain, and lower-level autonomous distributed control through behavioral experiments and mathematical modeling. Specifically, the study demonstrated that integrating a higher-level central control rule, which regulates head movement based on sensory feedback from environmental contact, with lower-level walking control rules improved the ability to navigate rough terrain. Additionally, the research clarified the role of the brain and subesophageal ganglion in generating different patterns of body coordination during walking, running, and swimming, as well as how these are integrated with lower-level distributed control rules.

Free Research Field

生物規範型ロボティクス

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の成果は，動物の状況適応的な振る舞いが，脳などの上位中枢からの指令と脊髄や神経節に内在する自律分散的な運動制御システムがどのように相互作用することで生み出されるのかを明らかにするものであり，動物らしい運動知能の設計のありように対して重要な示唆を与える．また，生物規範型ロボットの振る舞いの適応性や自律性を大幅に向上させる点において，工学的にも意義深い．