Zyhowski William P, Zill Sasha N, Szczecinski Nicholas S
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV, United States.
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Marshall University, Huntington, WV, United States.
Front Neurorobot. 2023 Jan 26;17:1125171. doi: 10.3389/fnbot.2023.1125171. eCollection 2023.
Animals utilize a number of neuronal systems to produce locomotion. One type of sensory organ that contributes in insects is the campaniform sensillum (CS) that measures the load on their legs. Groups of the receptors are found on high stress regions of the leg exoskeleton and they have significant effects in adapting walking behavior. Recording from these sensors in freely moving animals is limited by technical constraints. To better understand the load feedback signaled by CS to the nervous system, we have constructed a dynamically scaled robotic model of the stick insect middle leg. The leg steps on a treadmill and supports weight during stance to simulate body weight. Strain gauges were mounted in the same positions and orientations as four key CS groups (Groups 3, 4, 6B, and 6A). Continuous data from the strain gauges were processed through a previously published dynamic computational model of CS discharge. Our experiments suggest that under different stepping conditions (e.g., changing "body" weight, phasic load stimuli, slipping foot), the CS sensory discharge robustly signals increases in force, such as at the beginning of stance, and decreases in force, such as at the end of stance or when the foot slips. Such signals would be crucial for an insect or robot to maintain intra- and inter-leg coordination while walking over extreme terrain.
动物利用多种神经元系统来产生运动。在昆虫中起作用的一种感觉器官是钟形感器（CS），它能测量腿部所承受的负荷。在腿部外骨骼的高应力区域可以发现成群的这种感受器，它们对适应行走行为有显著影响。在自由活动的动物身上记录这些传感器的数据受到技术限制。为了更好地理解CS向神经系统发出的负荷反馈，我们构建了一个动态缩放的竹节虫中腿机器人模型。腿部在跑步机上行走，并在站立期间支撑体重以模拟身体重量。应变片安装在与四个关键CS组（第3组、第4组、第6B组和第6A组）相同的位置和方向。来自应变片的连续数据通过先前发表的CS放电动态计算模型进行处理。我们的实验表明，在不同的行走条件下（例如，改变“身体”重量、相位负荷刺激、足部滑倒），CS感觉放电能有力地发出力增加的信号，比如在站立开始时，以及力减少的信号，比如在站立结束时或足部滑倒时。这样的信号对于昆虫或机器人在极端地形上行走时维持腿内和腿间协调至关重要。
