Miniaturized electrophysiology platform for fly-robot interface to study multisensory integration

Abstract

To study multisensory integration, we have designed a fly-robot interface that will allow a blowfly to control the movements of a mobile robotic platform. Here we present successfully miniaturized recording equipment which meets the required specifications in terms of size, gain, bandwidth and stability. Open-loop experiments show that despite its small size, stable recordings from the identified motion-sensitive H1-cell are feasible when: (i) the fly is kept stationary and stimulated by external motion of a visual pattern; (ii) the fly and platform are rotating in a stationary visual environment. Comparing the two data sets suggests that rotating the fly or the pattern, although resulting in the same visual motion stimulus, induce slightly different H1-cell response. This may reflect the involvement of mechanosensory systems during rotations of the fly. The next step will be to use H1-cell responses for the control of unrestrained movements of the robot under closed-loop conditions. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.