Bio-inspired coupled oscillatory phase reset control system applied to movement in an underwater vehicle

•Motor control based on intrinsic oscillation in vertebrate neurons is implemented.•The vertebrate olivo-cerebellar network constitutes the core of the design.•The model is used to control an underwater vehicle movement.•Video camera controls movement by system oscillation phase resetting.

The present hardware circuit was designed as a fast and energy efficient motor control system based on cerebellar oscillatory neuron activity and network dynamics. Specifically, a hardware model of the olivo-cerebellar dynamics controlling vertebrate motor coordination is used to control movement in an underwater robotic vehicle. Single shot oscillatory phase resetting is used for instantaneous motor plant reorganization based on incoming sensory information. Such a rapid feedback mode, which is rapid enough to prevent animals from falling when they stumble, has been previously described in biological and mathematical papers (Pellionisz and Llinas, 1979, Velarde et al., 2002, 2004). In the present control system, the direction of the vehicle displacement is captured by a camera, and transformed into a phase shift modulation of sets of oscillatory elements that embody internal dynamics. This design provides a novel real time control platform for robotic control in three dimensions.