Mark Willis - US grants

Orientation to and location of distant unseen targets, such as mates, nest sites or food, can be achieved by tracking odors emitted by the targets. The path that is traveled through air or water typically exhibits a regular side-to-side zigzagging pattern. In this award to Drs. Edmund Arbas and Mark Willis, control systems will be identified and the manner in which these systems interact and adapt to the unpredictable environmental conditions experienced during pursuit of the goal will be studied. The model system is the male tobacco hornworm moth, which locates its mate by flying up a wind-borne plume of pheromone-attractant released by the female. Flight patterns in a wind tunnel will be recorded by videotaping while electrical activity of the flight muscles is monitored. The results of this research will used as the basis of computer simulations of the behavior. This work will contribute basic knowledge about movement control and how it is modulated by adaptations to the environment.

Animals as simple as cockroaches and slugs and as complex as humans all possess similar ways to control how they walk, crawl, swim or fly through earth's many complex environments. Engineers have turned to these natural systems for inspiration in developing robots, hoping to attain the same ease of movement and ability to adapt to any environment on earth (or off of it). The goals of animal motion studies and robotics are clearly complementary and benefit greatly from extended interaction. Although many meetings have limited sessions dedicated to such discussions, the International Symposium on Adaptive Motion in Animals and Machines (AMAM) is uniquely dedicated to intense week long interaction among engineers and biologists. The funds from this proposal will be used to bring young U.S. scientists and engineers (especially female and underrepresented minorities) to AMAM 2008 this June 1-6 at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Funds will also be used to support web-based distribution of the meeting to members of the international community and educators who cannot attend the meeting in person. The potential impacts of this meeting include: 1) use of robots as hardware models to promote a greater understanding of how animals (including humans) control their movement through their complex worlds, 2) creation of new walking, crawling, swimming and flying robots that more closely capture properties of animals, and 3) introduction of young developing scientists and engineers to an area of research that relies heavily on collaboration of people with many different skills from many different areas for success. The ultimate goal of this work is to provide highly functional robotic devices to serve human needs, such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, surveying and many others, as well as greater understanding of animal movement.

Most animals locate resources critical to their survival and reproduction (i.e., food, mates) by tracking evaporated odors that have moved downwind away from these resources in odor plumes. A major unanswered question about this remarkable behavior is how animals maintain contact with odor plumes. Do they: 1) make simultaneous side-to-side comparisons of odor levels between odor sensors, or 2) compare a series of odor concentrations detected at different points along their paths? This answer is not known because the multiple variables that affect an animal?s behavioral response to odor have rarely been studied in a systematic way. These variables include a dynamically changing environment, how fast they are walking, flying or swimming, and odor sensors on different parts of their bodies.
Our project will use a novel integrative approach to address this long standing question and transform and expand our understanding of odor-guided behavior. The behavioral responses of flying and walking animals will be compared as the three variables listed above are manipulated. The variables most important to successful source location will be identified along with how they interact with each other. The knowledge gained about biological control rules and their interaction with the behavior and sensory structures of a specific organism will reveal how animals prioritize information to adapt their behavior to unpredictable conditions.
The broader impacts of this study will include: 1) research training for students from our university and from a local all-girls high school, 2) training for a Cleveland Metropolitan High School teacher who will work in our lab during summers with the goal of using insect behavior as a tool to bring experience-based learning to the classroom, and 3) knowledge of biological control rules for odor tracking to apply to such projects as odor-tracking behaviors in mobile robots.