Related papers: Heterogeneous inputs to central pattern generators…

In networked systems, the interplay between the dynamics of individual subsystems and their network interactions has been found to generate multistability in various contexts. Despite its ubiquity, the specific mechanisms and ingredients…

Terrestrial animals must often negotiate heterogeneous, varying environments. Accordingly, their locomotive strategies must adapt to a wide range of terrain, as well as to a range of speeds in order to accomplish different behavioral goals.…

Generating stable walking gaits that yield natural locomotion when executed on robotic-assistive devices is a challenging task that often requires hand-tuning by domain experts. This paper presents an alternative methodology, where we…

This study is focused on the mechanisms of rhythmogenesis and robustness of anti-phase bursting in half-center-oscillators (HCOs) consisting of two reciprocally inhibitory coupled neurons. There is a growing body of experimental evidence…

Locomotion gaits are fundamental for control of soft terrestrial robots. However, synthesis of these gaits is challenging due to modeling of robot-environment interaction and lack of a mathematical framework. This work presents an…

First return maps of interspike intervals for biological neurons that generate repetitive bursts of impulses can display stereotyped structures (neuronal signatures). Such structures have been linked to the possibility of multicoding and…

Animals possess a remarkable ability to navigate challenging terrains, achieved through the interplay of various pathways between the brain, central pattern generators (CPGs) in the spinal cord, and musculoskeletal system. Traditional…

Flapping insects are remarkably agile fliers, adapted to a highly turbulent environment. We present a series of high resolution numerical simulations of a bumblebee interacting with turbulent inflow. We consider both tethered and free…

Optimizing gait stability for legged robots is a difficult problem. Even on level surfaces, effectively traversing across different textures (e.g., carpet) rests on dynamically tuning parameters in multidimensional space. Inspired by…

Flight is a complicated task at small scales in part due to the ubiquitous unsteady air which contains it. Flying organisms deal with these difficulties using active and passive control mechanisms to steer their body motion. Body attitudes…

Nature suggests that exploiting the elasticities and natural dynamics of robotic systems could increase their locomotion efficiency. Prior work on elastic snake robots supports this hypothesis, but has not fully exploited the nonlinear…

Insects and birds are often faced by opposing requirements for agile and stable flight. Here, we explore the interplay between aerodynamic effort, maneuverability, and stability in a model system that consists of a $\Lambda$-shaped flyer…

It is often overlooked by roboticists when designing locomotion controllers for their legged machines, that energy consumption plays an important role in selecting the best gaits for locomotion at high speeds or over long distances. The…

In many real-world oscillator systems, the phase response curves are highly heterogeneous. However, dynamics of heterogeneous oscillator networks has not been seriously addressed. We propose a theoretical framework to analyze such a system…

This work aims to combine machine learning and control approaches for legged robots, and developed a hybrid framework to achieve new capabilities of balancing against external perturbations. The framework embeds a kernel which is a fully…

Despite progress developing experimentally-consistent models of insect in-flight sensing and feedback for individual agents, a lack of systematic understanding of the multi-agent and group performance of the resulting bio-inspired sensing…

Spring-based actuators in legged locomotion provide energy-efficiency and improved performance, but increase the difficulty of controller design. While previous work has focused on extensive modeling and simulation to find optimal…

Disorder is often seen as detrimental to collective dynamics, yet recent work has shown that heterogeneity can enhance network synchronization. However, its constructive role in stabilizing nontrivial cooperative patterns remains largely…

Synchronization was observed in various biological systems such as flashing of fireflies and chorus of frogs. In this study, we report wavy synchronization in the locomotion of train millepedes (Parafontaria laminata armigera) and examine…

Achieving stable hopping has been a hallmark challenge in the field of dynamic legged locomotion. Controlled hopping is notably difficult due to extended periods of underactuation combined with very short ground phases wherein ground…