We use a closed-loop fly-machine interface to investigate general principles in neuronal control.
The non-stationary nature and variability of neuronal signals is a fundamental problem in brain-machine interfacing. We developed a brain-machine interface to assess the robustness of different control-laws applied to a closed-loop image stabilization task. Taking advantage of the well-characterized fly visuomotor pathway we record the electrical activity from an identified, motion-sensitive neuron, H1, to control the yaw rotation of a two-wheeled robot. The robot is equipped with 2 high-speed video cameras providing visual motion input to a fly placed in front of 2 CRT computer monitors. The activity of the H1 neuron indicates the direction and relative speed of the robot’s rotation. The neural activity is filtered and fed back into the steering system of the robot by means of proportional and proportional/adaptive control. Our goal is to test and optimize the performance of various control laws under closed-loop conditions for a broader application also in other brain machine interfaces.
1. Fly Preparation
2. Positioning the Recording Electrode
3. Visual Stimulation and Recordings
4. Representative Outcome and Results
K. Peterson was supported by a PhD studentship from the Department of Bioengineering and funding from the US Air Force Research Labs.
N. Ejaz was supported by a PhD studentship from the Higher Education Commission Pakistan and funding from the US Air Force Research Labs.
Material Name | Type | Company | Catalogue Number | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|
RosetteSep® human T cell enrichment cocktail | Stemcell Technologies | 15061 | ||
RosetteSep® density medium | StemCell Technologies | 15705 | ||
RPMI 1640 medium w/glutamine/HEPES | Fisher | SH3025501 | ||
Fetal calf serum | Omega Scientific | FB-01 | ||
GlutaMAX™-I | Invitrogen | 35050 | ||
RPMI 1640 vitamin solution | Sigma-Aldrich | 7256 | ||
RPMI 1640 amino acids solution | Sigma-Aldrich | R7131 | ||
Sodium pyruvate | Sigma-Aldrich | S8636 | ||
β-Mercaptoethanol | Sigma-Aldrich | M7522 | ||
BAPTA | Sigma-Aldrich | A4926 | ||
Poly-l-lysine hydrobromide | Sigma-Aldrich | P2636 | ||
Thapsigargin | Calbiochem | 586005 | ||
Sylgard® 184 silicon elastomer kit | Dow Corning | 3097358-1004 | ||
HIPEC® R6101 semiconductor protective coating | Dow Corning | |||
EPC 10 patch clamp amplifier | HEKA Instruments | |||
Motorized micromanipulator | Sutter Instrument | MP-285 | ||
Olympus 1X71 inverted microscope with 40X oil immersion objective | Olympus America | 1X71 | ||
Patch pipette puller | Sutter Instrument | P-97 | ||
Borosilicate tubing with filament (O.D.: 1.5 mm and I.D.: 1.10 mm) | Sutter Instrument | BF150-110-7.5 | ||
Microforge | Narishige International | MF-830 | ||
Silicon O-rings | McMaster-Carr | 111 S70 | ||
Microscope cover glass | Fisher Scientific | 12-545-102 25 mm 25CIR-1 | ||
Pulse software | HEKA Instruments | |||
Origin scientific graphing and analysis software | OriginLab |