Motor flexibility in insects: adaptive coordination of limbs in locomotion and near-range exploration

Dürr, Volker; Theunissen, Leslie M.; Dallmann, Chris J.; Hoinville, Thierry; Schmitz, Josef

doi:10.1007/s00265-017-2412-3

Cited by 55 publications

(53 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…Stance duration was approximately inversely proportional to forward walking speed (τnormalsnormaltnormalanormalnnormalcnormale~v||-1.025,R2=0.59) (see Materials and methods) (Figure 1Eiii). Therefore, our data were broadly consistent with previous observations that walking speed differences are dominated by changes in stance duration, while swing duration remains relatively constant (Wilson, 1966; Wosnitza et al, 2013; Dürr et al, 2018; Mendes et al, 2013).…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking Drosophila

DeAngelis

Zavatone-Veth

Clark

2019

eLife

105

160

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Terrestrial locomotion requires animals to coordinate their limb movements to efficiently traverse their environment. While previous studies in hexapods have reported that limb coordination patterns can vary substantially, the structure of this variability is not yet well understood. Here, we characterized the symmetric and asymmetric components of variation in walking kinematics in the genetic model organism Drosophila. We found that Drosophila use a single continuum of coordination patterns without evidence for preferred configurations. Spontaneous symmetric variability was associated with modulation of a single control parameter—stance duration—while asymmetric variability consisted of small, limb-specific modulations along multiple dimensions of the underlying symmetric pattern. Commands that modulated walking speed, originating from artificial neural activation or from the visual system, evoked modulations consistent with spontaneous behavior. Our findings suggest that Drosophila employ a low-dimensional control architecture, which provides a framework for understanding the neural circuits that regulate hexapod legged locomotion.

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Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 92%

The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking Drosophila

DeAngelis

Zavatone-Veth

Clark

2019

eLife

105

160

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“…These works switch between gaits using pre-defined network parameters to achieve each pattern. However, biological studies indicate that insects change gaits continuously (Dürr et al, 2018 ). Therefore, this study expands upon the previous work by implementing a controller capable of online changes as a first step toward a controller that can continuously switch between gaits once feedback is added.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Flexible Spiking CPGs for Online Manipulation During Hexapod Walking

2020

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Neural signals for locomotion are influenced both by the neural network architecture and sensory inputs coordinating and adapting the gait to the environment. Adaptation relies on the ability to change amplitude, frequency, and phase of the signals within the sensorimotor loop in response to external stimuli. However, in order to experiment with closed-loop control, we first need a better understanding of the dynamics of the system and how adaptation works. Based on insights from biology, we developed a spiking neural network capable of continuously changing amplitude, frequency, and phase online. The resulting network is deployed on a hexapod robot in order to observe the walking behavior. The morphology and parameters of the network results in a tripod gait, demonstrating that a design without afferent feedback is sufficient to maintain a stable gait. This is comparable to results from biology showing that deafferented samples exhibit a tripod-like gait and adds to the evidence for a meaningful role of network topology in locomotion. Further, this work enables research into the role of sensory feedback and high-level control signals in the adaptation of gait types. A better understanding of the neural control of locomotion relates back to biology where it can provide evidence for theories that are currently not testable on live insects.

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“…Given the proprioceptor types of insects (Horridge, 1965; McIver, 1985; Tuthill and Azim, 2018) and their distinct afferent projection regions in the ventral nerve cord (Tsubouchi et al, 2017), it is plausible to assume distinct neural circuits for the control of force and load on the one hand (see sections above) and the control of limb posture on the other. Moreover, the impressive flexibility of motor behavior in insects suggests flexible recruitment of sensory-motor feedback mechanisms as required for a particular behavioral goal (Dürr et al, 2018). Studies on several behavioral paradigms have shown that limb posture may be set by exteroceptive encoding, e.g., through vision or touch, or by proprioceptive encoding.…”

Section: Spatial Coordination Of Limbs and Omnidirectional Agilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrative Biomimetics of Autonomous Hexapedal Locomotion

et al. 2019

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Despite substantial advances in many different fields of neurorobotics in general, and biomimetic robots in particular, a key challenge is the integration of concepts: to collate and combine research on disparate and conceptually disjunct research areas in the neurosciences and engineering sciences. We claim that the development of suitable robotic integration platforms is of particular relevance to make such integration of concepts work in practice. Here, we provide an example for a hexapod robotic integration platform for autonomous locomotion. In a sequence of six focus sections dealing with aspects of intelligent, embodied motor control in insects and multipedal robots—ranging from compliant actuation, distributed proprioception and control of multiple legs, the formation of internal representations to the use of an internal body model—we introduce the walking robot HECTOR as a research platform for integrative biomimetics of hexapedal locomotion. Owing to its 18 highly sensorized, compliant actuators, light-weight exoskeleton, distributed and expandable hardware architecture, and an appropriate dynamic simulation framework, HECTOR offers many opportunities to integrate research effort across biomimetics research on actuation, sensory-motor feedback, inter-leg coordination, and cognitive abilities such as motion planning and learning of its own body size.

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Motor flexibility in insects: adaptive coordination of limbs in locomotion and near-range exploration

Cited by 55 publications

References 119 publications

The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking Drosophila

The manifold structure of limb coordination in walking Drosophila

Flexible Spiking CPGs for Online Manipulation During Hexapod Walking

Integrative Biomimetics of Autonomous Hexapedal Locomotion

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