Connecting brains to robots: An artificial body for studying the computational properties of neural tissues

We have created a hybrid neuro-robotic system that established two-way comm unication between the brain of a lamprey an a small mobile robot. The purpo se of this system is to offer a new paradigm for investigating the behavior al, computational, and neurobiological mechanisms of sensory-motor learning in a unified context. The mobile robot acts as an artificial body that del ivers sensory information to the neural tissue and receives command signals from it. The sensory information encodes the intensity of light generated by a fixed source. The loosed-loop interaction between brain and robot gene rates autonomous behaviors whose features are strictly related to the struc ture and operation of the neural preparation. We provide a detailed descrip tion of the hybrid system, and we present experimental finding son its perf ormance. In particular, we found (a) that the hybrid system generates stabl e behaviors, (b) that different preparations display different but systemat ic responses to the presentation of an optical stimulus, and (c) that alter ation of the sensory input leads to short- and long-term adaptive changes i n the robot responses. The comparison of the behaviors generated by the lam prey's brain stem with the behaviors generated by network models of the sam e neural system provides us with a new tool for investigating the computati onal properties of synaptic plasticity.