From LIMBS
Research
Overview:
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How do animals process sensory information to control their motion, and how should one design sensor-based robot control systems? Answering these questions involves three key ingredients:
- dynamics: animals and robots have mass, and their kinetic energy must be managed;
- geometry: energy fluxes on sensory arrays depend on both receptor geometry and robot or animal motion;
- processing: sensory images must be "filtered" to provide motor commands, thus closing the loop.
We contend that understanding the neural basis for motion control requires the integration of geometry, dynamics and sensory processing. Likewise, a rational paradigm for controller synthesis in robotic systems requires an integrative view that encompasses these components. Most of the projects in the LIMBS Laboratory highlight some aspect of these issues.
Sensorimotor Integration In Weakly Electric Fish
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The LIMBS laboratory in close collaboration with the Fortune Lab, is investigating sensorimotor integration in weakly electric knifefish. We have two funded projects: a one-year pilot project funded by the Whiting School of Engineering, in collaboration with the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory, to study ribbon-finned propulsion, and a three-year NSF-funded project to study sensorimotor control. More...
People: Prof. Noah Cowan, Prof. Eric Fortune, Sean Carver, Eatai Roth, Danoosh Vahdat,Benjamin Dirlikov, Terrence Jao, Katie Zhuang
Antenna-Based Tactile Sensing for High-Speed Wall Following
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Myriad creatures rely on compliant tactile arrays for locomotion control, mapping, obstacle avoidance and object recognition. Our laboratory is "reverse engineering" the neural controller for cockroach wall following to better understand sensorimotor integration in nature. In addition, we are building tactile sensors, inspired by their biological analogs. More...
People: Prof. Noah Cowan, Jusuk Lee, Andrew Lamperski, Owen Loh, Alican Demir, Nick Keller
Alumni: Brett Kutscher, Kelly Canfield
Vision-Based Control
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Vision-based control, also known as visual servoing, is a field of robotics in which a computer controls a robot's motion under visual guidance, much like people do in everyday life when reaching for objects or walking through a cluttered room. More...
People: Prof. Noah Cowan, Prof. Greg Hager, Vinutha Kallem, Maneesh Dewan, John Swensen
Adaptation and Control of Human Walking/Running on Splitbelt Treadmill
Normal humans adapt their gaits when walking/running on a splitbelt treadmill--a treadmill that has two separate belt speeds for the left and right legs. It is unclear, however, why and how humans adapt under such conditions. In collaboration with Dr. Amy Bastian at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, we attempt to answer such questions by modeling the neuromechanical adaptation and control of human running/walking on the splitbelt treadmill. Our research will give us a better understanding of the roll that the cerebellum plays in human adaptation as well as inspire new strategies in the diagnosis and rehabilitation of CNS-damaged patients.
People: Prof. Noah Cowan, Prof. Amy Bastian, Julia Choi, Jusuk Lee, Sean Carver
Labs: LIMBS Lab, Motion Analysis Lab
Pterosaurs: From Morphology to Flight Dynamics and Controls
As the first vertebrates to evolve powered flight, pterosaurs were a successful and morphologically unique group. Reconstructing their structure and behavior provides unique insights into evolution and functional morphology. Despite the fact that pterosaurs represent a unique and long-lived clade, there is still considerable uncertainty regarding their biology and flight dynamics. Pterosaurs are especially useful for examining the effects of size on flapping flight: the group includes the largest flying animals of all time (nearly the height of a modern giraffe) down to tiny species the size of small microchiropteran bats. Here, we address the problem of inferring flapping amplitude in pterosaurs across a wide range of body sizes, utilizing information from both fossil morphology and aerodynamic principles.
The Strouhal number is a dimensionless number used to describe the gait of animals moving in fluids. For a flapping flyer, Strouhal number (St) is equal to flapping amplitude*flapping frequency/flight velocity. Birds, bats, and insects have been previously shown to cruise within a narrow range of St that usually peak within the interval 0.2 < St < 0.4; propulsive efficiency is high over this range (refs 1-3). Based on natural selection, we expect that pterosaur behavior and morphology is tuned to these efficient St numbers. Using this constraint, we estimate likely ranges for flapping amplitude in 14 pterosaur species. (more will coming soon...)
Advisors:Prof. Noah Cowan, Prof. David Weishampel
People: Danoosh Vahdat, Michael Habib
Labs: LIMBS Lab, Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution
