Sensorimotor Control in Animals: From Neurons to Newton's Laws

Noah J. Cowan
Johns Hopkins University

Abstract

Animals robustly, automatically, and repeatedly modulate motor commands to drive sensory signals (including visual, electrosensory, tactile) to desired equilibria or limit cycles. In the LIMBS laboratory we apply engineering analysis (such as system identification) and robotic modeling to garner insight into these motor control behaviors. This talk will present results from several systems:

1) The confluence of mechanics and sensing in high-speed antenna-based wall following in cockroaches.
2) The challenges of relating open- and closed-loop experiments for optomotor yaw control in fruit flies.
3) Stability and maneuverability -- at the expense of energy -- in refuge tracking in weakly electric fish.
4) Closed-loop identification of an unstable sensorimotor behavior, the Jamming Avoidance Response in weakly electric fish.

Bio

Noah Cowan received his PhD in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor in 2001. From 2001 to 2003, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley working in the PolyPEDAL lab on cockroach locomotion. In 2003, he joined the Mechanical Engineering Department at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, as an Assistant Professor. He received the NSF CAREER award in 2009, the William H. Huggins Award for excellence in teaching in 2004, and a Rackham Doctoral Fellowship from the University of Michigan in 2000. Noah's research interests include multisensory control in animals and machines.