AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

MANTISBOT: A ROBOTIC PLATFORM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX NEURAL CONTROL

by David M Chrzanowski




Institution: Case Western Reserve University
Department: EMC - Mechanical Engineering
Degree: MSs
Year: 2015
Keywords: Engineering; Mechanical Engineering; Robotics; Walking robots; robotic behavior; neurobiology
Record ID: 2059773
Full text PDF: http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1417782255


Abstract

The mechanical, electrical, and software design of MantisBot, a 32 degree-of-freedom robot physically modeled after a male mantis (Tenodera sinensis) is presented. (Szczecinski 2013) has shown that a network of simulated, biologically-inspired neurons can produce smooth transitions between various states of locomotion in a simulated insect. Physical robotic platforms complement simulation work as the physics are necessarily accurate and not computationally expensive. MantisBot will be used as a development tool for creating and testing control systems that exhibit those desirable, organic behaviors. The robot interfaces with AnimatLab software, in which such control networks can be built and then run either in a full physics simulation or onboard MantisBot. Data are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of MantisBot as a biologically-inspired robotic testing platform.