Meet ANIBOT: The First Biologically-Inspired Animal Robot

Abstract

We present the first circuit realization of an animal (quadruped) robot controlled by a Central Pattern Generator (CPG) network of neurons, whose model and design are biologically-inspired [Golubitsky et al., 1998, 1999]. We demonstrate, through hardware simulations of the CPG network and through video snapshots, that our electronic CPG and our animal robot can indeed reproduce, via symmetry-breaking Hopf bifurcations, all primary gaits — walk, jump, trot, bound, pace, and pronk — just as they were originally predicted by theory. The design and development of the circuit realization are discussed in great detail.