In this paper we illustrate a system consisting of a collection of identical neural modules, that communicate by exchanging signals, that control a simulated hexapod robot with twelve DOF. The evolved neural controllers display an ability to generalize their ability to different environmental and body conditions. Synchronization and phase differentiation between joints and legs is achieved thro...

Circular fixation according to the Ilizarov method is a well-recognised modality of treatment for trauma and deformity. One shortcoming of the traditional fixator is its limited ability to correct more than one plane of deformity simultaneously, leading to lengthy frame-time indices. Hexapod circular fixation utilising computer guidance is commonplace for complex multidimensional deformity but ...

The arthropods are the most speciose, and among the most morphologically diverse, of the animal phyla. Their evolution has been the subject of intense research for well over a century, yet the relationships among the four extant arthropod subphyla - chelicerates, crustaceans, hexapods, and myriapods - are still not fully resolved. Morphological taxonomies have often placed hexapods and myriapod...

Gait control programs for hexapod robots are learned by incremental evolution. The first increment is used to learn the activations required to generate a single leg cycle. At this level the control program is required to produce the proper sequence of pulses needed to generate smooth movement by the servos. The learning program needs to take into account the peculiarities of the servo, its mou...

This paper describes a six-legged robot based on the features of an agile insect, the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. The robot is designed with insect-like leg structure and placement, and actuators that mimic muscles. A test leg is also described that shows how sensory feedback can serve as the basis of the control system for the robot in order for it to achieve the degree of adapt...

Hexapoda includes 33 commonly recognized orders, most of them insects. Ongoing controversy concerns the grouping of Protura and Collembola as a taxon Ellipura, the monophyly of Diplura, a single or multiple origins of entognathy, and the monophyly or paraphyly of the silverfish (Lepidotrichidae and Zygentoma s.s.) with respect to other dicondylous insects. Here we analyze relationships among ba...

The doublesex (dsx) gene functions as a molecular switch at the base of the insect sex determination cascade, and triggers male or female somatic sexual differentiation in Drosophila. Having been reported from only seven current insect orders, the exact phylogenetic distribution of dsx within the largest Arthropod sub-phylum, the Hexapoda, is unknown. To understand the evolution of this integra...

Comprising over half of all described species, the hexapods are central to understanding the evolution of global biodiversity. Direct fossil evidence suggests that new hexapod orders continued to originate from the Jurassic onwards, and diversity is presently higher than ever. Previous studies also suggest that several shifts in net diversification rate have occurred at higher taxonomic levels....

This paper presents a method to design Spiking Central Pattern Generators (SCPGs) to achieve locomotion at different frequencies on legged robots. It is validated through embedding its designs into a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and implemented on a real hexapod robot. The SCPGs are automatically designed by means of a Christiansen Grammar Evolution (CGE)-based methodology. The CGE perf...

Backward flight is a frequently used transient flight behavior among members of the species-rich hummingbird family (Trochilidae) when retreating from flowers, and is known from a variety of other avian and hexapod taxa, but the biomechanics of this intriguing locomotor mode have not been described. We measured rates of oxygen uptake (V(O2)) and flight kinematics of Anna's hummingbirds, Calypte...