RAISE: Collective neuromechanical control in the locomotion of sea stars

RAISE：海星运动的集体神经机械控制

• 批准号: 2034043
• 负责人: Matthew McHenry
• 金额: $ 100万
• 依托单位: University of California-Irvine
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2024-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2034043&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAISE; Collective; neuromechanical; control; locomotion

Locomotion is controlled through interactions between the nervous system and mechanics of an animal’s body. This control is hierarchical, with local networks of neurons handling rapid reflex actions and brain centers serving to navigate an animal with respect to environmental sensory cues. In many animals, such as in swimming fish and running centipedes, local controllers coordinate with one another rather than depending solely on instructions from the animal’s brain; this coordination is reminiscent of how animals in a group coordinate their collective behavior. The supported research aims to develop theory on how these local interactions guide animal locomotion. This work will focus on sea stars, which use hundreds of tube feet to navigate through rough marine terrain with a distributed nervous system and no brain. The research will combine experimentation, mathematical modeling, and machine learning to understand how the mechanics of the tube feet and body govern the hierarchical control of locomotion. A general theory for locomotor control has the potential for applications in numerous areas of biological and engineering research. This work will enhance our understanding of how diverse animals control locomotion and will generate novel paradigms for the design of soft robots. The proposal will support science and engineering training opportunities for under-represented minorities. It will develop software that will be made freely available to the community of scientists and engineers. The investigators will additionally engage K-12 citizen-scientists on research projects that will be based at a public aquarium.Animal locomotion is mediated in part by local nervous controllers that interact with one another in a manner similar to the collective behavior of animal groups. The supported research will develop the theory of collective neuromechanical control through experimentation and mathematical modeling focused on sea stars. The arrays of tube feet used by these animals provide sensing, integration, and actuation that is distributed throughout the body. This work will be organized around lines of investigation that seek to (1) understand how tube feet are controlled locally, (2) examine how sea stars climb and run, and (3) investigate how sea stars navigate with respect to light and gravity. Throughout, we will use reinforcement learning to formulate hypothetical control laws that we will test experimentally. Collective neuromechanical control offers great potential to influence our understanding of animal locomotion and to inspire the development of engineered devices. The tube feet of sea stars can inform knowledge of the neuromuscular control of other biological as well as soft robotic systems. The proposed work is highly interdisciplinary, with all components requiring interdependent efforts in engineering and biology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

运动是通过神经系统和动物身体力学之间的相互作用来控制的。这种控制是分层次的，局部神经元网络处理快速反射动作，大脑中心负责导航动物对环境感觉线索的反应。在许多动物中，比如游动的鱼和奔跑的蜈蚣，局部控制器之间相互协调，而不是仅仅依靠动物大脑的指令；这种协调让人想起群体中的动物如何协调它们的集体行为。这项得到支持的研究旨在发展关于这些局部相互作用如何指导动物运动的理论。这项工作将专注于海星，它们使用数百根管脚在分布着神经系统且没有大脑的崎岖海洋地形中导航。这项研究将结合实验、数学建模和机器学习，以了解管脚和身体的力学如何控制运动的分级控制。运动控制的一般理论在生物和工程研究的许多领域都有应用的潜力。这项工作将加深我们对不同动物如何控制运动的理解，并将为软机器人的设计产生新的范例。该提案将支持为代表不足的少数民族提供科学和工程培训机会。它将开发向科学家和工程师社区免费提供的软件。调查人员还将让K-12公民科学家参与研究项目，这些项目将在公共水族馆进行。动物的运动在一定程度上是由当地的神经控制器调节的，这些控制器以类似于动物群体集体行为的方式相互作用。支持的研究将通过以海星为重点的实验和数学建模来发展集体神经机械控制理论。这些动物使用的管脚阵列提供了分布在全身的感知、整合和驱动。这项工作将围绕寻求(1)了解管脚是如何在当地被控制的，(2)研究海星如何爬升和奔跑，以及(3)调查海星如何相对于光和重力导航的调查路线来组织。在整个过程中，我们将使用强化学习来制定假想的控制律，并进行实验测试。集体神经机械控制提供了巨大的潜力来影响我们对动物运动的理解，并激励工程设备的发展。海星的管脚可以为其他生物和软机器人系统的神经肌肉控制提供信息。这项拟议的工作是高度跨学科的，所有组成部分都需要在工程和生物学方面相互依赖的努力。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。