A virtuous cycle between invertebrate and robotics research: perspective on a decade of Living Machines research

Abstract

Many invertebrates are ideal model systems on which to base robot design principles due to their success in solving seemingly complex tasks across domains while possessing smaller nervous systems than vertebrates. Three areas are particularly relevant for robot designers: Research on flying and crawling invertebrates has inspired new materials and geometries from which robot bodies (their morphologies) can be constructed, enabling a new generation of softer, smaller, and lighter robots. Research on walking insects has informed the design of new systems for controlling robot bodies (their motion control) and adapting their motion to their environment without costly computational methods. And research combining wet and computational neuroscience with robotic validation methods has revealed the structure and function of core circuits in the insect brain responsible for the navigation and swarming capabilities (their mental faculties) displayed by foraging insects. The last decade has seen significant progress in the application of principles extracted from invertebrates, as well as the application of biomimetic robots to model and better understand how animals function. This Perspectives paper on the past 10 years of the Living Machines conference outlines some of the most exciting recent advances in each of these fields before outlining lessons gleaned and the outlook for the next decade of invertebrate robotic research.

AIdeal: Sentience and Ideology

“…There is growing empirical evidence suggesting that some common insects like fruit flies feel pain [54] . In his Whitehead lectures [55] , Peter Godfrey-Smith explains that insect pain was not recognized until very recently because insects do not seem to engage in behaviors like wound-tending for bodily injury. If the insect loses a leg it might continue on without much of a change in disposition.…”

Investigating visual navigation using spiking neural network models of the insect mushroom bodies

“…Since neuronal recordings are difficult to obtain in navigating insects, computational neuroscience and robotics have been integral in bridging the gap between observed insect navigation behaviours and theories of neural computation ( Mangan et al, 2023 ) not least as we have such good knowledge of the connectivity detailed above. In this neuroethological approach, theories of what strategies or neural architecture insects use to navigate are embodied in simulation or physically on robots.…”

Neuromorphic sequence learning with an event camera on routes through vegetation

“…For example, it has been recently argued ( 1 , 2 ) that unlocking the potential of new neuromorphic hardware for robotics requires a better understanding of the computing principles of real biological brains. Insect brains in particular ( 3 – 7 ) provide a powerful combination of efficiency and effectiveness, as well as tractability for understanding and emulating the details of their functional architecture. Here, we provide an exemplar of such an approach, implementing a network for visual route memory on neuromorphic hardware that drew directly on recent insights from insect neuroscience.…”