According to the physicist organization network reported on February 5, scientists at the University of Tokyo in Japan are working on a robot that can track odor information. At present, they use male silkworm moths to drive a small two-wheeled locomotive to track the sex pheromone released by female silkworm moths in the air to study the nerve and movement mechanisms of silkworm moths. In the next step, they will imitate the ability of male silkworm moths to track female odors, and equip robots with highly sensitive sensors to monitor pollutants leaking in the environment and trace the source of odors.
The researchers said that they chose male silkworm moths as locomotive drivers because they would dance a "mating dance." When they are stimulated by the sex pheromone released by the female silk moth, they will show a completely different way of walking: take a straight folding path, accompanied by several turns and more than 360 degrees of rotation. The leading author of the paper, Ando Tokang of the University of Tokyo, said: "The behavior of male silkworm moth tracking odor is simple and effective, which allows us to comprehensively analyze the neural mechanism from single neuron to overall tracking behavior, and then imitate this mechanism. A kind of 'artificial brain', mounted on a mobile robot, is equivalent to the 'insect control' locomotive we are studying now. "
There is a free-moving polystyrene ball on the front of the locomotive, which can control the car as a whole, just like the ball in a computer mouse. The researchers attached silk moths to the ball. There are also two 40mm fans in front of the car, which can blow the sex pheromones contained in the air to the silk moths, just like the wings of the silk moths constantly flapping to let the air flow through its super sensitive scent "antenna".
In the experiment, the researchers used a 1800 mm long air duct, placing the pheromone and the robot on each end of the air duct. They tested 14 silkworm moths, all of which successfully guided the robot to the source of flavor. They also conducted a turning experiment to change the power of one of the two motors of the locomotive, so that it would turn to one side during movement, and the silk moth must constantly adjust its direction and change its position to reach its destination.
"The best way to trigger insects to adjust their behavior is to put them in a special position. Turning is to imitate people riding on an unbalanced bicycle. We have to practice to ride this bicycle smoothly, but silk moths only rely on Simple and quick feeling-motion feedback overcomes the disadvantage. "Ando said.
It is very important to study the effect of the time delay between the movement of silk moths and the start of the machine, because in the future when the robot tracks the smell, the chemical sensor mounted on it will need a short reaction and processing time. Ando explained: "Most chemical sensors, such as semiconductor sensors, have a slow recovery time and cannot detect the dynamic changes of odor in real time. When applying this insect sensing-motion system to artificial systems, these results are the selection of sensors and An important indicator of the model. "
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