MANTISBOT: A ROBOTIC PLATFORM FOR DEVELOPMENT OF COMPLEX NEURAL CONTROL
Institution: | Case Western Reserve University |
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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 |
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.