Robots, Sensorimotor Interactions, and Neural Control Architecture

<div><p>(A1) <i>Roboto</i> has a total of 14 DOF, five of which are used in the current set of experiments. Note the head-mounted CCD camera, the pan-tilt head system (2 DOF), and the moveable left arm with shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints (3 DOF). The object is a red ball (1.25 inches diameter) attached to the tip of the last joint.</p><p>(A2) <i>Strider</i> has a total of 14 DOF, with four legs of 3 DOF each and 2 DOF in the pan-tilt head system. Objects are red and blue blocks (1 inch cubes). <i>Strider</i> is situated in an environmental enclosure with black walls.</p><p>(A3) <i>Madame</i> has 4 DOF, with 2 DOF in the pan-tilt system and 2 DOF for the wheels, which are both located on an axis vertical to the main body axis. The environment is a square arena bounded by blue walls containing 20 red-colored floating spheres.</p><p>(B1) <i>Roboto</i> engages in sensorimotor interactions via the head system and arm movements; sensory → motor (dotted arrows), motor → sensory (dashed arrows).</p><p>(B2) <i>Strider</i> engages in sensorimotor interactions via the head system, as well as via steering signals generated by the head and transmitted to the four legs.</p><p>(B3) <i>Madame</i>'s behavior consists of a series of approaches to colored objects and ovations. Fixations to the objects are maintained by independent action of head and body.</p><p>(C) Neural control architecture. The architecture common to all robots is composed of color image arrays <i>I_R, I_G, I_B,</i> color- intensity map<b><i>Col</i></b><i>_RGBY</i>, and saliency map <i>Sal</i> (see text for details). The peak of the saliency map (blue cross) determines the pan-tilt camera motion and body steering. In addition, <i>Strider</i>'s neural system contains a value system with taste sensory inputs relayed via a virtual taste sensor (blue square in visual image) to taste neurons (<i>T_AP,AV</i>), which in turn generates reward and aversiveness signals (rew, ave). These signals are used to modulate the strengths of the saliency factors <i>η_RGBY</i> (see text for details).</p>