Spike-Time Robotics: A Rapid Response Circuit for a Robot that Seeks Temporally Varying Stimuli

In this paper we describe a spiking neural circuit inspired by the pyramidalinterneuron network gamma (PING) circuit modeled by Whittington and colleagues [1]. The spiking network controls a rat animat – a rodent-inspired robot that can autonomously explore and map its environment. We demonstrate how the neural controller directs the rat animat‟s movement towards temporal stimuli of the appropriate frequency using an approach based on Braitenberg Vehicles. The circuit responds robustly (after four cycles) when first detecting a light pulsing at 1 Hz, and rapidly (after one-to-three cycles) when primed by recent experiences with the same frequency. This study is the first to demonstrate a biologically-inspired spike-based robot that is both robust and rapid in detecting and responding to temporal dynamics in the environment. It provides the basis for further studies of biologically-inspired spike-based