Biological Designs for Motor Control

It would like to emulate animal design features in an autonomous robot. Significant physical design feature includes energy source and density; sensors and density; and the density; robustness; and flexibility of neuronal axons or wires. It is inspired by computational design because of its unrivaled flexibility, fault tolerance, and power to manage vast arrays of sensory information and novel tasks. Biological systems physical design falls short of current technologies in the communication speeds between computing elements. Neural axons conduct their digital signals or action potentials at speeds less than 120 meters per second. The maximum rate of action potentials on the axon is low, less than 500 Hz, and there are substantial delays. These biological short-comings lead to long delays in any neuron control loop.

However biological systems show that an enormously powerful, robust and adaptive system can be constructed despite neurons inherent delays. The human brain is unparalleled for flexible motion control, planning and abstract cognition. The vast numbers of sensors, the number of parallel neurons used to process information, individual neuron’s complex processing capabilities, and a highly-evolved architecture all compensate for the delays. These assets construct a highly distributed, adaptable, and robust system of computational elements for internal model-based prediction, control, and communication.