Simulated Neural Dynamics Produces Adaptive Stepping and Stable Transitions in a Robotic Leg

Animals exhibit flexible and adaptive behavior. They can change between modes of locomotion or modify the details of a step to better suit their environment. Insects have massively distributed control architectures in which each joint has its own central pattern generator (CPG), which is coordinated with its neighbors only through sensory information. Different modes of walking (forward, turning, etc.) can be produced by changing which CPGs are affected by which sensory information, called a reflex reversal. The presented robotic leg is controlled by a computational neuroscience model of part of the nervous system of the cockroach Blaberus discoidalis. It steps adaptively to correct for unexpected obstacles and can reverse reflexes to produce turning motions.