RAISE: Collective neuromechanical control in the locomotion of sea stars

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。这种控制是分层的，局部神经元网络负责处理快速反射行为，大脑中心负责根据环境感官线索为动物导航。在许多动物中，比如游动的鱼和奔跑的蜈蚣，局部控制者彼此协调，而不是仅仅依赖动物大脑的指令；这种协调让人想起动物在群体中如何协调它们的集体行为。支持的研究旨在发展这些局部相互作用如何指导动物运动的理论。这项工作将集中在海星上，它们使用数百管英尺在崎岖的海洋地形中导航，具有分布式神经系统，没有大脑。这项研究将结合实验、数学建模和机器学习来了解管脚和管体的力学如何控制运动的层次控制。运动控制的一般理论在生物和工程研究的许多领域都有潜在的应用。这项工作将增强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。该提案将为未被充分代表的少数民族提供科学和工程培训机会。它将开发免费提供给科学家和工程师社区的软件。此外，调查人员还将与K-12公民科学家一起在公共水族馆开展研究项目。动物的运动部分是由局部神经控制器调节的，这些神经控制器以一种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。这些动物使用的管足阵列提供遍布全身的传感、集成和驱动功能。这项工作将围绕以下调查线进行组织：(1)了解管足是如何在局部控制的，(2)研究海星是如何攀爬和奔跑的，(3)研究海星是如何在光和重力的作用下导航的。在整个过程中，我们将使用强化学习来制定我们将进行实验测试的假设控制律。集体神经机械控制提供了巨大的潜力，影响我们对动物运动的理解，并激发工程设备的发展。海星的管足可以告诉我们其他生物和软机器人系统的神经肌肉控制知识。拟议的工作是高度跨学科的，所有的组成部分都需要在工程和生物学上相互依赖的努力。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.