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arXiv · 2401.00473

Emulating insect brains for neuromorphic navigation

Korbinian Schreiber·Timo Wunderlich·Philipp Spilger·Sebastian Billaudelle·Benjamin Cramer·Yannik Stradmann·Christian Pehle·Eric Müller·Mihai A. Petrovici·Johannes Schemmel·Karlheinz Meier
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Abstract

Bees display the remarkable ability to return home in a straight line after meandering excursions to their environment. Neurobiological imaging studies have revealed that this capability emerges from a path integration mechanism implemented within the insect's brain. In the present work, we emulate this neural network on the neuromorphic mixed-signal processor BrainScaleS-2 to guide bees, virtually embodied on a digital co-processor, back to their home location after randomly exploring their environment. To realize the underlying neural integrators, we introduce single-neuron spike-based short-term memory cells with axo-axonic synapses. All entities, including environment, sensory organs, brain, actuators, and the virtual body, run autonomously on a single BrainScaleS-2 microchip. The functioning network is fine-tuned for better precision and reliability through an evolution strategy. As BrainScaleS-2 emulates neural processes 1000 times faster than biology, 4800 consecutive bee journeys distributed over 320 generations occur within only half an hour on a single neuromorphic core.

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Korbinian Schreiber, Timo Wunderlich, Philipp Spilger, Sebastian Billaudelle, Benjamin Cramer, Yannik Stradmann, Christian Pehle, Eric Müller, Mihai A. Petrovici, Johannes Schemmel, Karlheinz Meier. 2023-12-31. Emulating insect brains for neuromorphic navigation. https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.00473

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