This program is developing neurotechnology based on the neurophysiology and behavior of animal models. We have developed two classes of biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicles. The first is an 8-legged ambulatory vehicle that is based on the lobster and is intended for autonomous remote-sensing operations in rivers and/or the littoral zone ocean bottom with robust adaptations to irregular bottom contours, current and surge. The second vehicle is an undulatory system that is based on the lamprey and is intended for remote sensing operations in the water column with robust depth/altitude control and high maneuverability.

These vehicles are based on a common biomimetic control, actuator and sensor architecture that features highly modularized components and low cost per vehicle. Operating in concert, they can conduct autonomous investigation of both the bottom and water column of the littoral zone or rivers. These systems represent a new class of autonomous underwater vehicles that may be adapted to operations in a variety of habitat

• Ayers, J., Witting, J., McGruer, N., Olcott, C., Massa, D. (2000) Lobster Robots. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aqua Biomechanisms. T. Wu and N, Kato, [eds]. Tokai University.
  
  
• Ayers, J., Wilbur, C., Olcott, C. (2000) Lamprey Robots. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aqua Biomechanisms. T. Wu and N, Kato, [eds]. Tokai University.
  
  
• Ayers, J. (1995) A Reactive Ambulatory Robot Architecture for Operation in Current and Surge. In: Proc. of the Autonomous Vehicles in Mine Countermeasures Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School. Pp. 15-31
  
  
• Ayers, J, Zavracky, P., McGruer, N., Massa. D., Vorus, W., Mukherjee, R. and Currie, S. (1998) A Modular Behavioral-Based Architecture for Biomimetic Autonomous Underwater Robots. In: Proc. of the Autonomous Vehicles in Mine Countermeasures Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School.
  
  
• Ayers, J., J. Witting, C. Wilbur, P. Zavracky, N. McGruer and D. Massa (2000) Biomimetic Robots for Shallow Water Mine Countermeasures. In: Proc. of the Autonomous Vehicles in Mine Countermeasures Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School. CD Rom
  
  
• Ayers, J. (2004) Underwater Walking. Arthropod Structure and Development 33: 347-360.

• Ayers, J. and Crisman. J. (1992) The Lobster as a Model for an Omnidirectional Robotic Ambulation Control Architecture. In: Biological Neural Networks in Invertebrate Neuroethology and Robots., R. Beer., R. Ritzmann and T. McKenna [eds], 287-316.
• Ayers, J. (1992) Desktop Motion Video for Scientific Image Analysis. Advanced Imaging 7: 52-55.
• Ayers, J. and Crisman, J. (1992) Biologically-based Control of Omnidirectional Leg Coordination, IEEE Proc. on Intelligent Robots and Systems 1: 574-581
• Ayers, J., Crisman, J. D. and Massa, D. (1993) A Biologically-based Controller for an Underwater Ambulatory Robot. Proc. Int. Symp. Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology. Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute, Portsmouth, N.H., Pp. 60-68
• Ayers, J., Kashin, S., Blidberg, D. R. and Massa, D. (1994) Biologically-Based Underwater Robots. Unmanned Systems 12: 30-36. .
• Chappell, S and Ayers, J. (1995) Innate and Modulated Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Behavior. In: Proc. Int. Symp. Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology. Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute, Portsmouth, N.H., Pp. 376-387.
• Jalbert, J. Kashin, S. Ayers, J. (1995) A Biologically-based Undulatory Lamprey-like AUV. In: Proc. of the Autonomous Vehicles in Mine Countermeasures Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School. Pp. 39-52
• Jalbert, J. Kashin, S. Ayers, J. (1995) Design Considerationas and Experiments on a Biologically-based Undulatory Lamprey-like AUV. In: Proc. Int. Symp. Unmanned Untethered Submersible Technology. Autonomous Undersea Systems Institute, Portsmouth, N.H., Pp. 124-138
• Ayers, J. (1995) A Reactive Ambulatory Robot Architecture for Operation in Current and Surge. In: Proc. of the Autonomous Vehicles in Mine Countermeasures Symposium. Naval Postgraduate School. Pp. 15-31 Breithaupt, T. and Ayers, J. (1995) Visualization and quantative analysis of underwater biological flow fields using suspended particles. Marine Behavior and Physiology, in press
• Breithaupt, T. and Ayers, J. (1996) Visualization and quantitative analysis of underwater biological flow fields using suspended particles. In: Zooplankton: Sensory Ecology and Physiology . P. H. Lenz, D. K. Hartline, J. E. Purcell and D. L. MacMillan [eds]. Basel: Gordon and Breach Science Publishers., Pp. 117-129
• Breithaupt, T., Ayers, J. (1998) Visualization and quantification of biological flow fields through video-based digital motion-analysis techniques. Mar. Fresh. Behav. Physiol. Vol. 31, pp.55-61.
• Ayers, J, Zavracky, P., McGruer, N., Massa. D., Vorus, W., Mukherjee, R. and Currie, S. (1998) A Modular Behavioral-Based Architecture for Biomimetic Autonomous Underwater Robots. In: Proc. of the 3rd International Conference on Technology and the Mine Problem. Naval Postgraduate School. CDRom.
• Ayers, J. (1999) A Behavior-Based Controller Architecture for Biomimetic Underwater Robots. In: Prerational Intelligence: Adaptive Behavior and Intelligent Systems without symbols and logic. Vol. I. H. Cruse, H. Ritter and J. Dean [eds] Kluwer Acad. Pub. Dordrecht. Pp. 357-370.
• Ayers, J., J. Witting, C. Wilbur P. Zavracky, N. McGruer and D. Massa (2000) Biomimetic Robots for Shallow Water Mine Countermeasures. In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Technology and the Mine Problem. 16 Pages,CD Rom.
• Ayers, J., Witting, J., McGruer, N., Olcott, C., Massa, D. (2000) Lobster Robots. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aqua Biomechanisms. T. Wu and N, Kato, [eds]. Tokai University.
• Ayers, J., Wilbur, C., Olcott, C. (2000) Lamprey Robots. In: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Aqua Biomechanisms. T. Wu and N, Kato, [eds]. Tokai University.
• Ayers, J. (2000) Finite State Analysis of Behavior and the Development of Underwater Robots. In Artificial Ethology, D. MacFarland and O. Holland [eds]. In Press.
• Witting, J., J. Ayers, et al. (2000). Development of a biomimetic underwater ambulatory robot: advantages of matching biomimetic control architecture with biomimetic actuators. Sensor Fusion and Decentralized Control in Robotic Systems III. G.McKee and P. Schenker. 4196: 54-61.
• Ayers, J. (2001) A Conservative Biomimetic Control Architecture for Autonomous Underwater Robots. In: Neurotechnology for Biomimetic Robots,. J. Ayers, J. Davis and A. Rudolph [eds]. MIT Press,
• McGruer, N., T. Truong, T. Barnes, X. Lu, and J. Aceros (2001) Biomimetic Flow And Contact/Bending MEMs Sensors. In: Neurotechnology for Biomimetic Robots,. J. Ayers, J. Davis and A. Rudolph [eds]. MIT Press
• Witting, J. and K. Safak(2001) SMA Actuators Applied To Biomimetic Underwater Robots In: Neurotechnology for Biomimetic Robots,. J. Ayers, J. Davis and A. Rudolph [eds]. MIT Press.
• Wilbur, C., W. Vorus, Y. Cao and S. Currie (2001) A Lamprey-Based Undulatory Vehicle. In: Neurotechnology for Biomimetic Robots,. J. Ayers, J. Davis and A. Rudolph [eds]. MIT Press.
• Ayers, J. , A. Volkovski, N. Rukov, A. Selverston, & H.D.I. Abarbanel, M. R. 2003 Building a Brain for the Lobster Robot Using Electronic Neurons. In International Conference on Non-Linear Wave Physics, pp. 3 Nizhny-Novgorad, Russia.
• Ayers, J. (2004). Architectures for Adaptive Behavior in Biomimetic Underwater Robots. Bio-mechanisms of Swimming and Flying. N. Kato, Ayers, J., Morikawa, H. Tokyo, Springer-Verlag: 171-187.
• Lee, Y. J., J. Lee., Y.B. Kim, J. Ayers , A. Volkovskii , A. Selverston , H. Abarbanel , M. Rabinovich (2004). "Low Power Real Time Electronic Neuron VLSI Design Using Subthreshold Techniques,." IEEE Circuits and Systems 4: 744-747.
• Ayers, J. (2004) Underwater Walking. Arthropod Structure and Development 33, 347-360.
• Selverston, A. I., Rabinovich, M. I., Huerta, R., Novotny, T., Levi, R., Arshavsky, Y., Volkovskii, A., Ayers, J. & Pinto, R. (2005) Biomimetic Central Pattern Generators for Robotics and Prosthetics. In ROBIO2004, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, 1: 885 - 888. Shenyang, China.
• Ayers, J. and Davis, J. (2005) Biomimetic Robots. Weapon Systems Technology Information Analysis Center Newsletter 5(4): 1-4.
• Ayers, J., N. Rulkov, et al. (2006). Electronic Neurons: From Biomimetic Robots to Blast Neurorehabilitation. Proc. 7th International Conference on Technology and the Mine Problem, Monterey, CA.
• Selverston, A. & Ayers, J. (2006) Oscillations and Oscillatory Behavior in Small Neural Circuits. Biological Cybernetics 95:537Ð554
• Ayers, J. and Witting, J. (2007) Biomimetic Approaches to the Control of Underwater Walking Machines. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, A, 365, 273Ð295
• J. Lee, Y. J. Lee, K. Kim, Y. B. Kim, and J. Ayers, "Low Power CMOS Adaptive Electronic Central Pattern Generator Design for a Biomimetic Robot," Neurocomputing, in press, 2007.
• Ayers, J. and N. Rulkov (2007). Controlling Biomimetic Underwater Robots with Electronic Nervous Systems. In: Bio-mechanisms of Animals in Swimming and Flying. N. Kato and S. Kamimura. Tokyo, Springer-Verlag. in press, 8 pp.

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