HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Free Full Text (PDF) Free Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in ISI Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via ISI Web of Science (16) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Schmitz, J. Articles by Cruse, H. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schmitz, J. Articles by Cruse, H. Related Collections Insects Behavior Biomechanics

A Biologically Inspired Controller for Hexapod Walking: Simple Solutions by Exploiting Physical Properties

Department of Biological Cybernetics, University of Bielefeld, P.O. Box 100131, D-33501 Bielefeld, FRG

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Josef.Schmitz{at}Biologie.Uni-Bielefeld.De

The locomotor system of slowly walking insects is well suited for coping with highly irregular terrain and therefore might represent a paragon for an artificial six-legged walking machine. Our investigations of the stick insect Carausius morosus indicate that these animals gain their adaptivity and flexibility mainly from the extremely decentralized organization of the control system that generates the leg movements. Neither the movement of a single leg nor the coordination of all six legs (i.e., the gait) appears to be centrally pre-programmed. Thus, instead of using a single, central controller with global knowledge, each leg appears to possess its own controller with only procedural knowledge for the generation of the leg’s movement. This is possible because exploiting the physical properties avoids the need for complete information on the geometry of the system that would be a prerequisite for explicitly solving the problems. Hence, production of the gait is an emergent property of the whole system, in which each of the six single-leg controllers obeys a few simple and local rules in processing state-dependent information about its neighbors.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				A. Prochazka and S. Yakovenko Predictive and reactive tuning of the locomotor CPG Integr. Comp. Biol., October 1, 2007; 47(4): 474 - 481. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Cruse, V. Durr, and J. Schmitz Insect walking is based on a decentralized architecture revealing a simple and robust controller Phil Trans R Soc A, January 15, 2007; 365(1850): 221 - 250. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				B. Blasing Crossing Large Gaps: A Simulation Study of Stick Insect Behavior Adaptive Behavior, September 1, 2006; 14(3): 265 - 285. [Abstract] [PDF]

				W. Ebeling and V. Durr Perturbation of leg protraction causes context-dependent modulation of inter-leg coordination, but not of avoidance reflexes J. Exp. Biol., June 1, 2006; 209(11): 2199 - 2214. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Akay, S. Haehn, J. Schmitz, and A. Buschges Signals From Load Sensors Underlie Interjoint Coordination During Stepping Movements of the Stick Insect Leg J Neurophysiol, July 1, 2004; 92(1): 42 - 51. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				D. E. J. Blazis and F. W. Grasso Introduction Biol. Bull., April 1, 2001; 200(2): 147 - 149. [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. J. Fraser Statocysts in Crabs: Short-Term Control of Locomotion and Long-Term Monitoring of Hydrostatic Pressure Biol. Bull., April 1, 2001; 200(2): 155 - 159. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]