CPG-based control of robotic fish by setting macro-commands with transient parameters

Abstract

The development of biomimetic underwater robots is a promising direction of modern physiology, neuroscience, nonlinear physics and engineering. There is a well-known neurophysiological background to the generation of complex rhythmic activity by the CNS in vertebrates during stereotypical locomotion, while receiving only simple, low-dimensional, input signals. It is believed that central pattern generators (CPGs) distributed along the spinal cord of a species are responsible for this type of behavior. The development of biologically inspired numerical models of the CPGs that control robotic devices (for example, a robotic fish) will contribute to a better understanding of the mechanisms of rhythm formation in segmental circuits, of generation of traveling waves, etc. In this paper, we propose a CPG model capable of executing macro-commands and investigate the influence of parameter set switching methods on the characteristics of unexpected perturbations that potentially affect the resulting dynamics of the robotic fish.