What follows is an intro paperwriten by Mark Tilden. Although it is informative and describes the sciencebehind Nervous nets It is writen in Academic Speak. So for those who ratherget the layman's version try here .
Nervous nets are to Neural netsthe same way peripheral spinal systems are to the brain.
This work hasconcentrated on the development of Nv based robot mechanisms with electronicapproximations of biologic autonomic and somatic systems. It has been demonstratedthat these systems, when fed back onto themselves rather than through acomputer-based pattern generator, can successfully mimic many of the attributesnormally attributed to lower biological organisms. Using Nv nets, highlysuccessful legged robot mechanisms have been demonstrated which can negotiateterrains of inordinate difficulty for wheeled or tracked machines. Thatnon-linear systems can provide this degree of control is not so surprisingas the part counts for successful Nv designs. Afully adept insect-walker, for example, can be fully controlled and operatedwith as little as 12 standard transistor elements.