The parietal cortex receives both visual- and motor-related information and is believed to be one of the sites of visuo-motor coordination. This study for the first time characterizes integration of visual and motor information in activity of neurons of parietal area 5 during locomotion under conditions that require visuo-motor coordination. The activity of neurons was recorded in cats during w...

Traversability estimation is a challenging problem, as in a non-structured environment one should consider both the terrain characteristics, such as slopes, vegetation, rocks, soils, etc. and the robot mobility characteristics, i.e. locomotion method, wheels, etc [9,10]. It is thus required to analyse, in real-time, the 3D characteristics of the terrain and pair this data to the robot capabilit...

This survey article examines the present understanding and demonstrated ability in the field of robot locomotion by walking. It seeks to take a very pragmatic view of the problem of efficiently traversing uneven terrain in an uncontrolled environment. It critically evaluates the techniques and technologies presently being employed by walking robots and also introduces a new approach.

Neuromodulators play an important role in activating rhythmically active motor networks; however, what remains unclear are the network interactions whereby neuromodulators recruit spinal motor networks to produce rhythmic activity. Evidence from invertebrate systems has demonstrated that the effect of neuromodulators depends on the pre-existing state of the network. We explored how network exci...

The gait of a multi-segment inchworm robot is a series of actuator actions that will change the shape of the robot to generate a net motion. In this article, we model the multisegment inchworm robot as a jinite state automaton. Gait generation is posed as a search problem on the graph described by the automaton with prescribed state transitions. The state transitions are defined based on the ki...

The paper discusses the state-of-the-art of locomotion systems for ground mobile robots comprising tracks. Tracked locomotion, due to large contact surface with ground, is particularly suitable tackling soft, yielding, and irregular terrains, but characterized by lower speed energy efficiency than wheeled obstacle-climbing capability legged locomotion. Therefore, in recent years academic indust...

We document the reliably repeatable dynamical mounting and dismounting of wheeled stools carts, fixed ledges, by Minitaur robot. Because these tasks span a range length scales that preclude quasi-static execution, we use hybrid systems framework to variously compose thereby systematically reuse small lexicon templates (low degree freedom behavioral primitives). The resulting behaviors comprise ...

Introduction: Effects of stress on nervous system activity and development are well defined. In the present study, the effects of maternal stress on dopamine-related behavior in the offspring were studied. Methods: Female pregnant Wistar rats (200 g) were randomly exposed to the noise pollution stress (125 db) for 14 days (5 min/day). The time of exposure was random in order to avoid adaptat...