A CMOS low power biohybrid lamprey robot controller design

This paper presents a CMOS low power biomimetic robot controller design capable of undulatory locomotion, initiated by light and guided by chemotaxis. This capability will be based on coupling power generation with actuation through the mitochondria of muscle engineered to respond to light and sensing by engineered cells that modulate an electronic nervous system. Engineered sensor cell responses will be connected with potentiometric interfaces to modulate the electronic central pattern generator (CPG) neurons. The CPG generates lateral undulations that propagate from front to rear and allow the two sides to be biased to mediate turning. This paper demonstates actual feasibility of the biomimetic robot´s behavior using the CPG designed using subthreshold anlaog circuits design technique for low power with 180nm CMOS process and 1.8V power supply dissipating 3.28mW on 1.1mm² silicon area.