Biomimetic control of mobile robots based on the chemotactic response model of paramecium

Abstract

In order to survive in complex natural environments, living organisms have been genetically acquiring various algorithms. Recently, the concept of Software Biology has been propoed, in which the algorithms of living organisms are considered as a kind of software that could be utilized for robot control. We have proposed the computer model of Paramecium, Virtual Paramecium, based on biological knowledge. Virtual Paramecium can approximately realize the chemotatic behavior of actual Paramecium. In this paper, we report the results obtained when a mobile robot is controlled using Virtual Paramecium, and confirm the effectiveness of the biomimetic control based on the information processing algorithm of living organisms.