5. Conclusions

shown in Figure 13. Four cell body models are mutually coupled by 12 inhibitory synaptic models. The driving waveform of the hexapod robot is generated by the outputs extracted from the hardware ANNs and the current mirror circuit. Four trigger pulse input ports are also extracted from the hardware ANNs. The sequence of the locomotion rhythm depends on the

Figure 20. Measured output waveforms of the designed IC.

46 Advanced Applications for Artificial Neural Networks

Figure 21. Locomotion (walking) of the hexapod robot mounted with the hardware ANNs.

This chapter describes the basic characteristics of the hardware ANNs as gait generators of multilegged robots.

The main findings are summarized below.


Currently, the authors consider replacing the artificial muscle wire by an electrostatic actuator to reduce the actuating power. The electrostatic actuator will be powered by high-voltage silicon photovoltaic cells installed in the microrobot system. In future works, the ANNs, actuator, power source system, and sensory system will be directly integrated into the silicon frame parts of the microrobot.
