CAREER: A Framework for Revealing How Locomotor Control Emerges from the reciprocal Interactions of Neural and Mechanical Systems

Georgia Tech Research Corporation, Atlanta GA

Investigators

Abstract

Animals move with remarkable stability and agility through nearly every environment. To do so, they rely on interacting neural and mechanical systems that must operate in the context of the physics of sensing, actuation, and environmental interactions. Modern data acquisition tools provide unprecedented access to the underlying neural, muscular, and mechanical signals that implement control. However, these signals alone are not a framework for understanding how sensory information transforms into motor outputs. This CAREER project leverages several emerging experimental and analytical techniques to show how locomotor dynamics emerge from this sensorimotor transform. This framework for extracting principles of sensorimotor control is based on combining high-resolution neuromuscular recordings, information theoretic and dimensionality-reduction data analytics, and the formal language of system identification and control theory. The experimental framework of this proposal is transferrable to other living and engineered systems composed of many subsystems connected by feedback such as gene or protein networks, cell mechanics, or population dynamics. Principles of locomotor control that emerge from this work will synergize with the BRAIN initiative and similar programs by providing context through which to interpret a deep, detailed understanding of brain structure, anatomy, and connectivity. They will also address challenges in the new era of robotics and neural engineering. There is a pressing need for neuro-technologies that enable versatile movement while embodied in physical systems. More broadly this work will enable translation of research-based undergraduate learning into scientific and education products. It will bring a neuroscience component to the growing Physics of Living Systems curriculum at Georgia Tech. Within the VIP program, students will receive training at the interface of biology, physics, and engineering by engaging in research-based learning that is organized into a vertical mentoring system. Ultimately the study of how brain and body control movement is an accessible context in which to engage the public and further converge education of physics and biology even outside the walls of the research university. The research uses three experimental platforms (two animals and one robot). They provide insights into the shared neural and mechanical processing challenges animals face despite using different modes of locomotion. The research program includes recording and altering a nearly complete motor program (the set of all neuromuscular commands to appendages) with spike-level resolution while an animal behaves in a virtual reality environment. The PI's work also explores the performance consequences of different control architectures and the sensorimotor determinants on maneuverability. The program will use the interdisciplinary study of movement to create a scientific foundry for the Physics of Living Systems at Georgia Tech with an emphasis on how physics approaches provide a context for understanding neural signals. The core of the foundry will be a vertically integrated research team of undergraduates that will complete the loop of research-based education to classroom-inspired research. To transfer the impact outside the university, the researchers will team with local high school teachers to innovate new education tools based on the accessibility of high-speed imaging, surface electromyography, and the study of movement.