TY  - JOUR
AU  - Weidel, Philipp
AU  - Djurfeldt, Mikael
AU  - Morrison, Abigail
AU  - Duarte, Renato
TI  - Closed Loop Interactions between Spiking Neural Network and Robotic Simulators Based on MUSIC and ROS
JO  - Frontiers in neuroinformatics
VL  - 10
SN  - 1662-5196
CY  - Lausanne
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
M1  - FZJ-2016-05171
SP  - 31
PY  - 2016
AB  - In order to properly assess the function and computational properties of simulated neural systems, it is necessary to account for the nature of the stimuli that drive the system. However, providing stimuli that are rich and yet both reproducible and amenable to experimental manipulations is technically challenging, and even more so if a closed-loop scenario is required. In this work, we present a novel approach to solve this problem, connecting robotics and neural network simulators. We implement a middleware solution that bridges the Robotic Operating System (ROS) to the Multi-Simulator Coordinator (MUSIC). This enables any robotic and neural simulators that implement the corresponding interfaces to be efficiently coupled, allowing real-time performance for a wide range of configurations. This work extends the toolset available for researchers in both neurorobotics and computational neuroscience, and creates the opportunity to perform closed-loop experiments of arbitrary complexity to address questions in multiple areas, including embodiment, agency, and reinforcement learning.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:27536234
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000380668600001
DO  - DOI:10.3389/fninf.2016.00031
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/819528
ER  -