Growth and repair: Instantiating a biologically inspired model of neuronal development on the Khepera robot
Activity-dependent, developmental synaptic plasticity permits, in part, an animals nervous system to be constructed in a way that depends on both the animals experiences and its bodys particular morphology. The continuing expression of this plasticity into later life allows constant adaptation of the animals nervous system to changes in the animals body as it grows and ages, also allowing some recovery from major injury. We instantiate a previously studied model of such neuronal development on a robotic platform to establish whether developmental robotics can equip a robot with a nervous system tuned to the robots individual morphology and that allows recovery from damage.
neuronal development khepera robot synaptic plasticity activity-dependent competition self-repair