Mechanoprocessor: modeling the rodent whisker sensory system using FPGA

A mobile robot is being built which utilize a biologically inspired whisker array as the primary sensor for both spatial exploration and surface textural analysis. The theme of biomimetry is being developed further by utilizing physiological and electro-physiological studies of the neural pathways involved in the processing and subsequent motor response of real rodents as they use their whiskers. The ABRG have experience in modelling brain function whilst the IAS laboratory are contributing by embedding some of these highly parallel neural algorithms directly into hardware using field programmable gate arrays (FPGA). This approach brings us closer to true, real-time, neurobiologically inspired processing, which is demonstrated by controlling a mobile robot to enact behaviors similar to those observed in rodents such as wall following, object recognition and textural discrimination. The research undertaken so far has identified the numerous neural structures principally involved in the whisker sensory system.