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Neuronal “Op-amps” Implement Adaptive Control in Biology and Robotics

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Human and Robot Hands

Part of the book series: Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems ((SSTHS))

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Abstract

Animals control their limbs very efficiently using interconnected neuronal populations. We propose that these populations can be seen as general-purpose neuronal operational amplifiers, or neuronal “op-amps”, forming adaptive feedback networks. The neuronal op-amp is an interdisciplinary concept offering tentative explanations of animal behaviour as well as approaches to biologically inspired high-dimensional robot control. For instance, in biology, the concept indicates the origin of synergies and saliency in the mammalian central nervous system; in robotics, it presents a design of simple but robust adaptive controllers that identify unknown sensors online. Here, we introduce the neuronal op-amp concept and its biological basis. We explore its biological plausibility, its application, and its performance in adaptive control both theoretically and experimentally.

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Acknowledgments

The author thanks the THE project partners and reviewers for many inspirational interdisciplinary discussions across the robotics and neuroscience camps, and is especially grateful for support by Dr. Henrik Jörntell at the Department of Experimental Medical Science, Lund University. The author is grateful to Prof. Rolf Johansson at the Department of Automatic Control, Lund University, who introduced him to the fascinating field of adaptive control. This research was funded by the European Union FP7 research project THE, “The Hand Embodied”, under grant agreement 248587.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. SICS (Swedish Institute of Computer Science), POB 1263, 164 29, Kista, Sweden

    Martin Nilsson

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  1. Martin Nilsson
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Correspondence to Martin Nilsson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Advanced Robotics, Italian Institute of Technology, Genova, Genova, Italy

    Matteo Bianchi

  2. Department of Cognitive Neuriscience, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Alessandro Moscatelli

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Nilsson, M. (2016). Neuronal “Op-amps” Implement Adaptive Control in Biology and Robotics. In: Bianchi, M., Moscatelli, A. (eds) Human and Robot Hands. Springer Series on Touch and Haptic Systems. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26706-7_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-26706-7_6

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-26705-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-26706-7

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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