The goal of this proposal is to identify fundamental sensorimotor circuits associated with goal-oriented gripping movement by using high-dimensional biological, analytical and robotics technologies. To pursue this, we will study an animal that is extraordinary in many ways, the octopus. Our interest in this unique invertebrate is based on its well documented complex behavior repertoire that have shown to resemble those of vertebrates. Each of the eight arms contains an axial nerve which functions like the vertebrate?s spinal cord. Previous work demonstrated that a severed octopus arm could exhibit movements that are almost identical to a goal-oriented movement that an intact octopus produces. This suggests that the octopus has a simplified neural program embedded within the arm itself and is adaptable to various degree of input from visual and motor brain areas. Thus, the octopus provides an unparalleled preparation to study central sensorimotor circuits associated with gripping behavior. We will study the arm motion in the disembodied preparation (representing essentially a detached but functional vertebrate spinal cord) and in an intact, behaving octopus: We will use high-resolution cameras to characterize gripping motion in terms of velocity, trajectory and kinematics; We will develop technologies to wirelessly record multi-unit activity from the axial cord in locations proximate and distal to the brain; We will visualize neural activity in specific neural populations using GCaMP measurements; We will develop machine learning algorithms to link neural processes across multiple scales of structures and time, which will be essential to comparing data obtained from a disembodied arm to an intact arm. We will use the wealth of the multi-modal measurements for building a model-driven empirical design and validate these algorithms by computationally reproducing octopus arm movement and fashioning new movements; We will also test the biologically-inspired algorithms in an unprecedented approach: we will evoke gripping movement in a soft material-based biorobotic arm. This novel research has the potential to bridge the gap between current BMI technologies and profound understanding of neural circuits associated with the gripping movement, that its impairment is most catastrophic and regaining this function is most desirable to patients. We expect that the sensorimotor circuits dynamics that we will discover will be later used to control locomotion and other adaptive movement in lower extremities. Additionally, this work will establish unparalleled new resources to the scientific community for studying unconventional species, and will fuel the developments of intelligent sensors, methods and frameworks to acquire high- dimensional biological data, and novel approaches to fabricate essential elements of soft robots to build the next generation of bionic limbs.
The goal of this proposal is to identify fundamental sensorimotor circuits associated with goal-oriented gripping movement by using high-dimensional biological, analytical and robotics technologies. To pursue this, we will study the octopus that offers an unparalleled opportunity to study a functioning spinal cord in a disembodied arm. This novel research has the potential to bridge the gap between current BMI technologies and profound understanding of neural circuits associated with the gripping movement, that its impairment is most catastrophic and regaining this function is most desirable to patients. We expect that the sensorimotor circuits dynamics that we will discover will be later used to control locomotion and other adaptive movement in lower extremities. Additionally, this work will establish unparalleled new resources to the scientific community for studying unconventional species, and will fuel the developments of intelligent sensors, methods and frameworks to acquire high-dimensional biological data, and novel approaches to fabricate essential elements of soft robots to build the next generation of bionic limbs.
