Whole-body physics simulation of fruit fly locomotion
13 hours ago
- #neural control
- #biomechanics
- #Drosophila
- A whole-body model of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster was developed in a physics simulator for studying neural control of sensorimotor behavior.
- The model supports diverse behaviors, including terrestrial and aerial locomotion, validated through realistic walking and flight simulations.
- New phenomenological models for fluid and adhesion forces were developed to support these behaviors.
- Neural network controllers were trained using reinforcement learning to generate naturalistic locomotion along complex trajectories.
- The model includes visual sensors and hierarchical motor control, enabling visually guided flight tasks.
- The framework is open-source, facilitating further research in embodied neural control.