Kano Takeshi, Kanauchi Daichi, Aonuma Hitoshi, Clark Elizabeth G, Ishiguro Akio
Research Institute of Electrical Communication, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Research Center of Mathematics for Social Creativity, Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Front Neurorobot. 2019 Aug 23;13:66. doi: 10.3389/fnbot.2019.00066. eCollection 2019.
A brittle star, an echinoderm with penta-radially symmetric body, can make decisions about its moving direction and move adapting to various circumstances despite lacking a central nervous system and instead possessing a rather simple distributed nervous system. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the essential control mechanism underlying the determination of moving direction in brittle stars. Based on behavioral findings on brittle stars whose nervous systems were lesioned in various ways, we propose a phenomenological mathematical model. We demonstrate via simulations that the proposed model can well reproduce the behavioral findings. Our findings not only provide insights into the mechanism for the determination of moving direction in brittle stars, but also help understand the essential mechanism underlying autonomous behaviors of animals. Moreover, they will pave the way for developing fully autonomous robots that can make decisions by themselves and move adaptively under various circumstances.
脆星是一种具有五辐射对称身体的棘皮动物，尽管缺乏中枢神经系统，仅有一个相当简单的分布式神经系统，但它仍能决定自己的移动方向并适应各种环境。在本研究中，我们旨在阐明脆星移动方向确定背后的基本控制机制。基于对神经系统以各种方式受损的脆星的行为研究结果，我们提出了一个现象学数学模型。通过模拟，我们证明所提出的模型能够很好地重现行为研究结果。我们的研究结果不仅为理解脆星移动方向确定的机制提供了见解，也有助于理解动物自主行为的基本机制。此外，它们将为开发能够自行决策并在各种环境中自适应移动的完全自主机器人铺平道路。
