Role of Brain Circuits in Legged Locomotion in Insects

腿运动进化为在困难环境中最有效的运动形式。尽管许多研究都集中在基本腿部运动的控制上，但动物能够围绕不可预测的障碍物重新引导这些运动，这使得腿部运动特别成功。当遇到障碍物时，动物必须用它的传感器评估物体，然后利用这些信息有效地转弯或爬过障碍物。在这个项目中，Ritzmann博士将研究昆虫的神经系统如何控制这些运动。他将用一系列越来越精确的技术瞄准特定的大脑区域。这些技术包括各种记录和刺激程序，结合高速视频行为分析。它们将使里茨曼博士能够研究感官信息是如何被用来产生下行命令的，这些命令最终会改变腿部的运动，从而使动物能够处理障碍。里茨曼博士的项目将产生广泛的影响。几乎所有有腿动物都面临着在复杂地形中运动的问题，并且必须存在类似的控制系统。在脊椎动物中，控制是通过大脑的运动区域（如小脑）和脊髓中的局部回路之间的相互作用发生的。尽管如此，基本的控制问题与昆虫中发现的问题相同，但昆虫为他将进行的实验提供了重要的技术优势。当机器人穿越复杂和不可预测的地形时，控制问题也必须由机器人解决。事实上，未能处理这些问题限制了世贸中心悲剧中搜索车辆的成功。在其他项目中，Ritzmann博士与Roger Quinn博士生物机器人实验室的工程师合作，开发基于生物控制的先进机器人车辆，可以在几乎没有监督的情况下执行危险任务。Ritzmann博士项目的结果对改进这些车辆的设计具有巨大的潜力。

Legged locomotion evolved as the most effective form of movement through difficult environments. Although much research has focused upon control of basic leg movements, it is an animal's capacity to re-direct these movements around unpredicted barriers that makes legged locomotion particularly successful. Upon encountering an obstacle, an animal must evaluate the object with its sensors, then use that information to effectively turn or climb over the barrier. In this project Dr. Ritzmann will examine how insect nervous systems control these movements. He will target specific brain regions with a range of techniques with increasing precision. These techniques include various recording and stimulation procedures combined with high-speed video analysis of behavior. They will allow Dr. Ritzmann to examine just how sensory information is used to generate descending commands that ultimately alter leg movements and, thereby, allow the animal to deal with barriers.Dr. Ritzmann's project will have wide ranging impacts. The issues of movement through complex terrain confront virtually all legged animals, and similar control systems must be present. In vertebrates, control occurs through interactions between motor regions of the brain, such as the cerebellum, and local circuits in the spinal cord. Nevertheless, the basic control problem is the same as that found in insects, yet insects provide significant technical advantages for the experiments that he will pursue. The control issues must also be solved by robots as they traverse complex and unpredictable terrain. Indeed, failure to deal with such problems limited success of search vehicles in the World Trade Center tragedy. In other projects, Dr. Ritzmann collaborates with engineers in Dr. Roger Quinn's Biorobotics laboratory to develop advanced robotic vehicles based upon biological control that can perform dangerous missions with little supervision. Results from Dr. Ritzmann's project have tremendous potential for improving the designs of these vehicles.