(A) novel bio-machine interface for the behavior modulation of living organism

Abstract

In research into small mobile robots and biomimetic robots, locomotion ability remain a major issue despite many advances in technology. However, evolution has led to there being many real animals capable of excellent locomotion. Recently, several studies have been carried out on the direct control of behavior in insects and other lower animals in order to apply these behaviors to the performance of specialized tasks in an attempt to find more efficient means of carrying out these tasks than artificial intelligence agents. This dissertation presents a “novel bio-machine interface” whereby an animal’s locomotion abilities are applied to a robot task. In this study, we selected turtle and mice as the animal platform, and examined our concept system with various methods. This animal？robot interaction system could provide an alternative solution to some of the limitations of conventional mobile robot systems in various fields, and could also act as a useful interaction system for the behavioral sciences. In the future, we expect that our technology will become an innovative framework for human-machine interface systems.