BIO-INSPIRED OPTICAL FLOW CIRCUITS FOR THE VISUAL GUIDANCE OF MICRO-AIR VEHICLES

F. Ruffier (1) , S. Viollet (1) , S. Amic , N. Franceschini (1)

1 ISM - Institut des Sciences du Mouvement Etienne Jules Marey

In 1986, Franceschini et al. built an optronic velocity sensor [11], the principle of which was based on the findings they had recently made on fly EMDs by performing electrophysiological recordings on single neurons while concomitantly applying optical microstimuli to single photoreceptor cells [12]. As early as 1989, a battery of 110 velocity sensors of this kind was used to enable a small autonomous mobile robot to steer its way through an unknown field full of obstacles at a relatively high speed (50 cm/s), based on optic flow measurements [1-2]. Later on, several electronic EMDs based on sensors such as the Reichardt correlation sensor [13] or Franceschini et al's 1986 velocity sensor [14] were developed to serve as smart VLSI circuits.

Domains: Engineering Sciences [physics]; Automatic; Life Sciences [q-bio]; Neurons and Cognition [q-bio.NC]; Psychology and behavior

F. Ruffier, S. Viollet, S. Amic, N. Franceschini. BIO-INSPIRED OPTICAL FLOW CIRCUITS FOR THE VISUAL GUIDANCE OF MICRO-AIR VEHICLES. ISCAS 2003. International Symposium on Circuits and Systems, May 2003, Bangkok, Thailand. pp.III-846-III-849, ⟨10.1109/ISCAS.2003.1205152⟩. ⟨hal-03844458⟩