title: A physical model of sensorimotor interactions during locomotion.
abstract: In this paper, we describe the development of a bipedal robot that models the neuromuscular architecture of human walking. The body is based on principles derived from human muscular architecture, using muscles on straps to mimic agonist/antagonist muscle action as well as bifunctional muscles. Load sensors in the straps model Golgi tendon organs. The neural architecture is a central pattern generator (CPG) composed of a half-center oscillator combined with phase-modulated reflexes that is simulated using a spiking neural network. We show that the interaction between the reflex system, body dynamics and CPG results in a walking cycle that is entrained to the dynamics of the system. We also show that the CPG helped stabilize the gait against perturbations relative to a purely reflexive system, and compared the joint trajectories to human walking data. This robot represents a complete physical, or 'neurorobotic', model of the system, demonstrating the usefulness of this type of robotics research for investigating the neurophysiological processes underlying walking in humans and animals.
authors: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA. theresa.j.klein@gmail.com
authors: Theresa J
authors: TJ
authors: Klein
authors: M Anthony
authors: MA
authors: Lewis
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D063226:Central Pattern Generators / Q000502:physiology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008124:Locomotion / Q000502:physiology*; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology