Integrating spiking neural networks and deep learning algorithms on the neurorobotics platform (2022)
Presentation / Conference
Stentiford, R., Knowles, T. C., Feldoto, B., Ergene, D., Morin, F. O., & Pearson, M. J. (2022, July). Integrating spiking neural networks and deep learning algorithms on the neurorobotics platform. Paper presented at Living Machines 2022, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, United States

We present a neurorobotic model that can associate self motion (odometry) with vision to correct for drift in a spiking neural network model of head direction based closely on known rodent neurophys-iology. We use a deep predictive coding network to... Read More about Integrating spiking neural networks and deep learning algorithms on the neurorobotics platform.

A spiking neural network model of rodent head direction calibrated with landmark free learning (2022)
Journal Article
Stentiford, R., Knowles, T. C., & Pearson, M. J. (2022). A spiking neural network model of rodent head direction calibrated with landmark free learning. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 16, -. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2022.867019

Maintaining a stable estimate of head direction requires both self-motion (idiothetic) information and environmental (allothetic) anchoring. In unfamiliar or dark environments idiothetic drive can maintain a rough estimate of heading but is subject t... Read More about A spiking neural network model of rodent head direction calibrated with landmark free learning.

Multimodal Representation Learning for Place Recognition Using Deep Hebbian Predictive Coding (2021)
Journal Article
Pearson, M. J., Dora, S., Struckmeier, O., Knowles, T. C., Mitchinson, B., Tiwari, K., …Pennartz, C. M. (2021). Multimodal Representation Learning for Place Recognition Using Deep Hebbian Predictive Coding. Frontiers in Robotics and AI, 8, Article 732023. https://doi.org/10.3389/frobt.2021.732023

Recognising familiar places is a competence required in many engineering applications that interact with the real world such as robot navigation. Combining information from different sensory sources promotes robustness and accuracy of place recogniti... Read More about Multimodal Representation Learning for Place Recognition Using Deep Hebbian Predictive Coding.

WhiskEye: A biomimetic model of multisensory spatial memory based on sensory reconstruction (2021)
Conference Proceeding
Knowles, T. C., Stentiford, R., & Pearson, M. J. (2021). WhiskEye: A biomimetic model of multisensory spatial memory based on sensory reconstruction. In TAROS 2021: Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (408-418). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-89177-0_43

We present WhiskEye, a visual tactile robot supporting a neurorobotic investigation of spatial memory as a multisensory reconstructive process. This article outlines the motivation for building WhiskEye; the technical details of the physical robot, a... Read More about WhiskEye: A biomimetic model of multisensory spatial memory based on sensory reconstruction.

Audio Localization for Robots Using Parallel Cerebellar Models (2018)
Journal Article
Baxendale, M., Pearson, M., Nibouche, M., Secco, E., & Pipe, T. (2018). Audio Localization for Robots Using Parallel Cerebellar Models. IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters, 3(4), 3185-3192. https://doi.org/10.1109/LRA.2018.2850447

© 2016 IEEE. A robot audio localization system is presented that combines the outputs of multiple adaptive filter models of the Cerebellum to calibrate a robot's audio map for various acoustic environments. The system is inspired by the MOdular Selec... Read More about Audio Localization for Robots Using Parallel Cerebellar Models.

Feather-inspired sensor for stabilizing unmanned aerial vehicles in turbulent conditions (2017)
Book Chapter
Kouppas, C., Pearson, M. J., Dean, P., & Anderson, S. (2017). Feather-inspired sensor for stabilizing unmanned aerial vehicles in turbulent conditions. In M. Mangan, M. Cutkosky, A. Mura, P. Verschure, T. Prescott, & N. Lepora (Eds.), Biomimetic and Biohybrid Systems (230-241). Springer link

Stabilizing unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in turbulent conditions is a challenging problem. Typical methods of stabilization do not use feedforward information about the airflow disturbances but only UAV attitude feedback signals, e.g. from an iner... Read More about Feather-inspired sensor for stabilizing unmanned aerial vehicles in turbulent conditions.

An adaptive modular recurrent cerebellum-inspired controller (2017)
Conference Proceeding
Maheri, K., Lenz, A., & Pearson, M. J. (2017). An adaptive modular recurrent cerebellum-inspired controller. In M. Mangan, C. Mark, A. Mura, P. Verschure, T. Prescott, & L. Nathan (Eds.), . https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63537-8_23

Animals and robots face the common challenge of interacting with an unstructured environment. While animals excel and thrive in such environments, modern robotics struggles to effectively execute simple tasks. To help improve performance in the face... Read More about An adaptive modular recurrent cerebellum-inspired controller.

Self-adaptive context aware audio localization (2017)
Book Chapter
Baxendale, M., Pearson, M. J., Nibouche, M., Secco, M., & Pipe, A. G. (2017). Self-adaptive context aware audio localization. In C. Lekakou, Y. Jin, S. Fallah, & G. Yang (Eds.), Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems (66-78). LNCS 10454: Springer link

An audio sensor system is presented that uses multiple cere- bellar models to determine the acoustic environment in which a robot is operating, allowing the robot to select appropriate models to calibrate its audio-motor map for the detected environ... Read More about Self-adaptive context aware audio localization.

Advancing whisker based navigation through the implementation of bio-inspired whisking strategies (2016)
Presentation / Conference
Salman, M., & Pearson, M. (2016, December). Advancing whisker based navigation through the implementation of bio-inspired whisking strategies. Paper presented at IEEE International Conference On Robotics And Biomimetics (ROBIO 2016), Qingdao, China

An active whisking tactile sensor array has been successfully integrated with the RatSLAM algorithm and demonstrated as capable of reducing error in pose estimates of a mobile robot. A new metric for evaluating the performance of RatSLAM is introdu... Read More about Advancing whisker based navigation through the implementation of bio-inspired whisking strategies.

Cerebellar-inspired algorithm for adaptive control of nonlinear dielectric elastomerbased artificial muscle (2016)
Journal Article
Pearson, M. J., Wilson, E. D., Assaf, T., Pearson, M., Rossiter, J. M., Anderson, S. R., …Dean, P. (2016). Cerebellar-inspired algorithm for adaptive control of nonlinear dielectric elastomerbased artificial muscle. Interface, 13(122), https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2016.0547

© 2016 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved. Electroactive polymer actuators are important for soft robotics, but can be difficult to control because of compliance, creep and nonlinearities. Because biological control mec... Read More about Cerebellar-inspired algorithm for adaptive control of nonlinear dielectric elastomerbased artificial muscle.

Visual-tactile sensory map calibration of a biomimetic whiskered robot (2016)
Journal Article
Assaf, T., Wilson, E. D., Anderson, S., Dean, P., Porrill, J., & Pearson, M. J. (2016). Visual-tactile sensory map calibration of a biomimetic whiskered robot. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, 2016-June, 967-972. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2016.7487228

© 2016 IEEE. We present an adaptive filter model of cerebellar function applied to the calibration of a tactile sensory map to improve the accuracy of directed movements of a robotic manipulator. This is demonstrated using a platform called Bellabot... Read More about Visual-tactile sensory map calibration of a biomimetic whiskered robot.

Measuring the local viscosity and velocity of fluids using a biomimetic tactile whisker (2015)
Journal Article
Pipe, T., Rooney, T., Pearson, M. J., & Pipe, A. G. (2015). Measuring the local viscosity and velocity of fluids using a biomimetic tactile whisker. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, 9222, 75-85. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22979-9_7

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. A novel technique for determining the relative visco-density of fluids using an actuated flexible beam inspired by the tactile whiskers of marine mammals is presented. This was developed for the i... Read More about Measuring the local viscosity and velocity of fluids using a biomimetic tactile whisker.

Biohybrid control of general linear systems using the adaptive filter model of cerebellum (2015)
Journal Article
Wilson, E. D., Assaf, T., Pearson, M. J., Rossiter, J. M., Dean, P., Anderson, S. R., & Porrill, J. (2015). Biohybrid control of general linear systems using the adaptive filter model of cerebellum. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 9(JUL), https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2015.00005

© 2015 Wilson, Assaf, Pearson, Rossiter, Dean, Anderson and Porrill. The adaptive filter model of the cerebellar microcircuit has been successfully applied to biological motor control problems, such as the vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR), and to sensor... Read More about Biohybrid control of general linear systems using the adaptive filter model of cerebellum.

The robot vibrissal system: Understanding mammalian sensorimotor co-ordination through biomimetics (2015)
Book Chapter
Prescott, T. J., Mitchinson, B., Lepora, N. F., Wilson, S. P., Anderson, S. R., Porrill, J., …Pipe, A. G. (2015). The robot vibrissal system: Understanding mammalian sensorimotor co-ordination through biomimetics. In A. Groh, & P. Krieger (Eds.), Sensorimotor Integration in the Whisker System (213-240). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2975-7_10

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2015. We consider the problem of sensorimotor co-ordination in mammals through the lens of vibrissal touch, and via the methodology of embodied computational neuroscience-using biomimetic robots to synthesize an... Read More about The robot vibrissal system: Understanding mammalian sensorimotor co-ordination through biomimetics.

Artificial vibrissae DEA-based module (2014)
Journal Article
Assaf, T., Conn, A., Rossiter, J., Walters, P., & Pearson, M. (2014). Artificial vibrissae DEA-based module. Proceedings of SPIE, 9056, https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2044763

The article presents a working whisker structure based on dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs). This preliminary work aims to exploit the features of the dielectric elastomer technology for use in an effective and reliable robotic application whilst... Read More about Artificial vibrissae DEA-based module.

High speed switched, multi-channel drive for high voltage dielectric actuation of a biomimetic sensory array (2014)
Journal Article
Pearson, M., & Assaf, T. (2014). High speed switched, multi-channel drive for high voltage dielectric actuation of a biomimetic sensory array. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, 8608 LNAI, 414-416. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-09435-9_47

Electro-Active Polymers (EAP) have been described as artificial muscles due to their composition andmuscle-like dynamics [1]. Consequently they have attracted a lot of attention from the biomimetic robotics research community and heralded as a potent... Read More about High speed switched, multi-channel drive for high voltage dielectric actuation of a biomimetic sensory array.

Simultaneous localisation and mapping on a multi-degree of freedom biomimetic whiskered robot (2013)
Conference Proceeding
Pearson, M., Fox, C. W., Sullivan, J. C., Prescott, T. J., Pipe, T., & Mitchinson, B. (2013). Simultaneous localisation and mapping on a multi-degree of freedom biomimetic whiskered robot. In L. E. Parker (Ed.), 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (586-592). https://doi.org/10.1109/ICRA.2013.6630633

A biomimetic mobile robot called 'Shrewbot' has been built as part of a neuroethological study of the mammalian facial whisker sensory system. This platform has been used to further evaluate the problem space of whisker based tactile Simultaneous Loc... Read More about Simultaneous localisation and mapping on a multi-degree of freedom biomimetic whiskered robot.

Biomimetic tactile target acquisition, tracking and capture (2013)
Journal Article
Prescott, T. J., Pearson, M. J., Mitchinson, B., Pearson, M., Pipe, A. G., & Prescott, T. (2014). Biomimetic tactile target acquisition, tracking and capture. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 62(3), 366-375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2013.08.013

Good performance in unstructured/uncertain environments is an ongoing problem in robotics; in biology, it is an everyday observation. Here, we model a particular biological system - hunting in the Etruscan shrew - as a case study in biomimetic robot... Read More about Biomimetic tactile target acquisition, tracking and capture.

Joint conferences - TAROS 2012 and FIRA 2012 (2013)
Journal Article
Pearson, M., Conn, A., & Herrmann, G. (2014). Joint conferences - TAROS 2012 and FIRA 2012. Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 62(3), 281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.robot.2013.09.008

This special issue contains ten extended, peer-reviewed papers specially selected from 36 full papers [1] and presented at the joint conferences of TAROS 2012 (Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems 2012) and FIRA 2012 (the Robot World Congress of the F... Read More about Joint conferences - TAROS 2012 and FIRA 2012.

The effect of whisker movement on radial distance estimation: A case study in comparative robotics (2013)
Journal Article
estimation: A case study in comparative robotics. Frontiers in Neurorobotics, 6(12), https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbot.2012.00012

Whisker movement has been shown to be under active control in certain specialist animals such as rats and mice. Though this whisker movement is well characterized, the role and effect of this movement on subsequent sensing is poorly understood. One... Read More about The effect of whisker movement on radial distance estimation: A case study in comparative robotics.