Two Simulation Tools for Biologically Inspired Virtual Robotics

This paper describes two simulators that have been developed as part of Holland’s and Troscianko’s project to build a conscious robot. The first simulates a reconfigurable humanoid robot within a dynamic environment. This robot is more biologically realistic than traditional humanoid robots because its movements are transmitted across its whole structure, which poses the same control problems that brains have to solve with biological systems. The second simulator in this paper simulates large numbers of spiking neurons with a flexibility and speed that makes it ideal for developing models of biologically structured neural networks. In combination these simulators will enable researchers to develop models of how the brain controls the human body and they will also be used to create and test controllers for the real CRONOS robot, on which the virtual robot is based. These tools are currently in their final stage of development and will soon be made freely available for non-commercial use.