Insects, like dung beetles, can perform versatile motor behaviors including walking, climbing an object (i.e., dung ball), as well as manipulating and transporting it. To achieve such complex behaviors for artificial legged systems, we present here modular neural control of a bio-inspired hexapod robot. The controller utilizes discrete-time neurodynamics and consists of seven modules based on t...

The use of secondary structures has been advocated to improve both the alignment and the tree reconstruction processes of ribosomal RNA (rRNA) data sets. We used simulated and empirical rRNA data to test the impact of secondary structure consideration in both steps of molecular phylogenetic analyses. A simulation approach was used to generate realistic rRNA data sets based on real 16S, 18S, and...

Avoiding obstacles is challenging for autonomous robotic systems. In this work, we examine obstacle avoidance legged hexapods, as it relates to climbing over randomly placed wooden joists. We formulate the task a 3D joist detection problem and propose detect-plan-act pipeline using SLAM algorithm generate pointcloud grid map expose high such A line detector applied on extract parametric informa...

Homophilic binding of E-cadherins through their ectodomains is fundamental to epithelial cell-cell adhesion. Despite this, E-cadherin ectodomains have evolved differently in the vertebrate and hexapod lineages. Of the five rod-like, tandemly aligned extracellular cadherin domains (ECs) of vertebrate E-cadherin, the tip EC plays a pivotal role in binding interactions. Comparatively, the N-termin...

This study combined complete 18S with partial 28S rRNA gene sequences (~2000 nt total) to investigate the relations of basal hexapods. Ten species of Protura, 12 of Diplura, and 10 of Collembola (representing all subgroups of these three clades) were sequenced, along with five true insects and eight other arthropods, which served as outgroups. Trees were constructed with maximum parsimony, maxi...