SWARM 2019: The 3rd International Symposium on Swarm Behavior and Bio-Inspired Robotics, Nov. 20-22, 2019
Workshop on “Role of movement-based active perception in navigation and its neurorobotic correlates”

Date and time: 22 November 2019, 13:00-16:30
Location: Room A (Auditorium), Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology
Program:
13:00

Welcome address and introduction
Danish Shaikh

13:15

Eye capping suggests eyes drive independent motor control functions during visual navigation
Andrew Philippides, Cornelia Buehlmann, Cody Freas, Paul Graham
In view based homing, the current view of the world is compared to remembered views to generate a movement
direction. We believe the comparison/movement to be an active process whereby ants physically scan the world(either through rotations or oscillatory paths), sampling views facing different directions and moving forwards whenthe view is familiar. While visual panoramas can be matched as entire views, we showed improved navigation by using
wide-field panoramic segments to generate independent heading estimates, suggesting ants could improve visualhoming by using input from each eye independently. To address this, zero-vector ants with food were caught on theirreturn at the nest entrance and transported to familiar or unfamiliar locations. Ants were released with left or righteye-capped (covered) and trajectories recorded. Eye-capping led to asymmetric paths with rapid turns away from theeye-capped side. As this asymmetry disappeared in unfamiliar locations, it is likely that it is a due to a perturbation ofvisual navigation by eye-capping rather than a general change in movement control. Thus, during visual homing input
to each eye may be used independently, perhaps controlling the extent of contra-lateral turns. Indeed, alternating
control of left/right turns would give an unbiased method for polling independent heading estimates from different
panoramic segments.

13:45

Modeling the insect brain: a bio-plausible approach for navigating in complex environments
Florent Le Moël, Antoine Wystrach
Central-place foraging insects must face the task of navigating through their complex environments to search andbring food back to their nest. One key strategy they developed to do so is based on learning the visual appearance ofthe surroundings: the solitary foraging Cataglyphis velox ants can visually learn and follow idiosyncratic routes
through their semidesertic habitat. Such learning involves the transfer of visual information to a higher brain centre,
the Mushroom Bodies (MB), of which circuitry has spawned several modelling studies geared towards vision.
However, a common problem to these simulations lays in how the perception/action loop is closed: in many cases,
they require the navigating agent to perform an exhaustive sampling of its surroundings at each step forward – abehaviour that is not observed in navigating ants. With the aim of building a fully biologically-plausible sensory-motor
loop allowing successful navigation, we embedded a bio-plausible computational model of the MB in an oscillating
agent, moving through a virtual 3D world mapped on real-life Cataglyphis ants habitat. We show how the classic
limitations of previous MB models can be overcame by rather simple motor and learning processes, which,interestingly, fit adequately with the choreography of the learning walks that naive ants perform when first leaving
their nest.

14:15

Break

14:30

Active perception - the role of motion in insect olfaction
Einat Couzin-Fuchs
Renowned for their speed, agility and evolutionary success, cockroaches serve as a leading model organism to study
neural mechanism of both sensing and behavior. In my talk I will describe our work to study the relation between
sensory perception and motion—the role of proprioception in regulating locomotion, and the role of motion inassisting olfaction. Focusing here on the later, I will show that there is an intimate feedback between motion andsensing and that, in the context of olfaction (which has traditionally been considered a static sense), movement—
sniffing, antennal movements, flight manoeuvres etc.—can dramatically enhance odor perception. Using an
integrative approach in which behavioral experiments are combined with electrophysiology we study the neuralmechanisms underlying odor-guided movement decisions. Specifically, we characterize antennal scanning patterns indifferent olfactory environments and test to what degree movement decisions are linked to time-varying fluctuations
in odor cues. We provide evidence that distinct patterns of wide antennal sweeping and high-frequency flicking playdifferent roles in odor localization and neural signal enhancement respectively.
15:00

Towards neurorobotic models of active perception and its role in navigation
Danish Shaikh, Alejandro Pequeno Zurro, Ignacio Rano
Perception is an active operation in which the detection, representation, and processing of sensory information isheavily modulated via motor behaviour. Active perception may allow an animal to selectively sample information in
space and in time, vary stimulus intensity and dynamics to optimise sensory processing and extract relevant features.
Viewing sensory systems in the context of active sensing could provide a better understanding of the principles
underlying biological perception. In this talk I present on-going work on modelling active olfactory perception in theAmerican cockroach via the neurorobotic approach. I will first describe relevant anatomical correlates and neuralcoding in olfactory receptor neurons in the cockroach antennae and link these to olfactory navigation strategies. I willthen present a neurorobotic model for olfactory navigation that allows for incorporating temporal dynamics ofstimulus as additional spatial olfactory cues. The model linearly fuses instantaneous stimulus values with its temporal
dynamics and implements Braitenberg vehicle-like sensorimotor connections that generate edge-following behaviourin simulated odour plumes, similar to those observed in freely moving cockroaches.

15:30

Source Taxis Simulator (STS): a software tool for exploring sensorimotor connections, embodiment and emergence
behaviour of artificial agents in the context of odour localization.
Alejandro Pequeno Zurro
Insects can locate food resources in different scenarios using multiple sensory information in the environment. The
implementation of these strategies into robotics may lead to more robust navigation algorithms but also give insights
about perception and neural information processing in nature. Considering the synthetic approach of understanding
animal behaviours by building agents, we created a simulation tool that explores embodiment and sensory perceptionof a software agent in the context of odour source localization. The software simulates navigation trajectories given
sensorimotor connections and embodiment of an insect-like agent in a chemical environment. STS allows easy
customisation and scalability to other sensory modalities and animal embodiments. Analysis of the trajectories
provides insights about insect navigation strategies as well as the role of active perception and the neurophysiologicalmechanisms of animal behaviour. Applying this software in a case study, we explored the neural processing in theON/OFF olfactory receptor neurons in the American cockroach via Braitenberg vehicles and its performance inolfactory navigation.

15:45

Hands-on STS tutorial

16:15

General discussion, participant feedback and closing remarks

16:30

End of workshop