How exactly our brain works is still an open question, but one thing seems to be clear: biological neural systems are computationally powerful, robust and noisy. Using the Reservoir Computing paradigm based on Spiking Neural Networks, also known as Liquid State Machines, we present results from a novel approach where diverse and noisy parallel reservoirs, totalling 3,000 modelled neurons, work together receiving the same averaged feedback. Inspired by the ideas of action learning and embodiment we use the safe and flexible industrial robot BAXTER in our experiments. The robot was taught to draw three different 2D shapes on top of a desk using a total of four joints. Together with the parallel approach, the same basic system was implemented in a serial way to compare it with our new method. The results show our parallel approach enables BAXTER to produce the trajectories to draw the learned shapes more accurately than the traditional serial one. Index Terms-spiking neural networks, liquid state machines, reservoir computing, humanoid robots, BAXTER, V-REP, parallel processing.
How can we build robot controllers that are able to work under harsh conditions, but without experiencing catastrophic failures? As seen on the recent Fukushima's nuclear disaster, standard robots break down when exposed to high radiation environments. Here we present the results from two arrangements of Spiking Neural Networks, based on the Liquid State Machine (LSM) framework, that were able to gracefully degrade under the e↵ects of a noisy current injected directly into each simulated neuron. These noisy currents could be seen, in a simplified way, as the consequences of exposition to non-destructive radiation. The results show that not only can the systems withstand noise, but one of the configurations, the Modular Parallel LSM, actually improved its results, in a certain range, when the noise levels were increased. Also, the robot controllers implemented in this work are suitable to run on a modern, power e cient neuromorphic hardware such as SpiNNaker.
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