The long-term goal of our laboratory is the development of analog resistive network-based VLSI implementations of early and intermediate vision algorithms. We demonstrate an experimental circuit for smoothing and segmenting noisy and sparse depth data using the resistive fuse and a 1-D edge-detection circuit for computing zero-crossings using two resistive grids with different spaceconstants. To demonstrate the robustness of our algorithms and of the fabricated analog CMOS VLSI chips, we are mounting these circuits onto small mobile vehicles operating in a real-time, laboratory environment.

We have constructed a two axis camera positioning system which is roughly analogous to a single human eye. This Artificial-Eye (Aeye) combines the signals generated by two rate gyroscopes with motion information extracted from visual analysis to stabilize its camera. This stabilization process is similar to the vestibulo-ocular response (VOR); like the VOR, A-eye learns a system model that can be incrementally modified to adapt to changes in its structure, performance and environment. A-eye is an example of a robust sensory system that performs computations that can be of significant use to the designers of mobile robots. 1 Introduction We have constructed an "artificial eye" (A-eye), an autonomous robot that incorporates a two axis camera positioning system (figure 1). Like a the human oculomotor system, A-eye can estimate the rotation rate of its body with a gyroscope and estimate the rotation rate of its "eye" by measuring image slip

Neu.·al Network Analysis of Distributed Representations of Dynamical Sensory-Motor rrransformations in the Leech Shawn R. LockerYt Van Fangt and Terrence J. Sejnowski Computational Neurobiology Laboratory Salk Institute for Biological Studies Box 85800, San Diego, CA 92138 ABSTRACT Interneurons in leech ganglia receive multiple sensory inputs and make synaptic contacts with many motor neurons. These "hidden" units coordinate several different behaviors. We used physiological and anatomical constraints to construct a model of the local bending reflex. Dynamical networks were trained on experimentally derived input-output patterns using recurrent back-propagation. Units in the model were modified to include electrical synapses and multiple synaptic time constants.

The Second International Workshop on User Modeling was held March 30- April 1, 1990 in Honolulu, Hawaii. The general chairperson was Dr. Wolfgang Wahlster of the University of Saarbrucken; the program and local arrangements chairperson was Dr. David Chin of the University of Hawaii at Manoa. The workshop was sponsored by AAAI and the University of Hawaii, with AAAI providing eight travel stipends for students.

In the mammalian visual cortex, orientation-selective'simple cells' which detect straight lines may be adapted to detect curved lines instead. We test a biologically plausible, Hebbian, single-neuron model, which learns oriented receptive fields upon exposure to unstructured (noise)input and maintains orientation selectivity upon exposure to edges or bars of all orientations and positions. This model can also learn arc-shaped receptive fields upon exposure to an environment of only circular rings. Thus, new experiments which try to induce an abnormal (curved) receptive field may provide insightinto the plasticity of simple cells. The model suggests that exposing cells to only a single spatial frequency may induce more striking spatial frequency and orientation dependent effects than heretofore observed.

Traditional methods of studying neural coding characterize the encoding of known stimuli in average neural responses. Organisms face nearly the opposite task - decoding short segments of a spike train to extract information about an unknown, time-varying stimulus. Here we present strategies for characterizing the neural code from the point of view of the organism, culminating in algorithms for real-time stimulus reconstruction based on a single sample of the spike train. These methods are applied to the design and analysis of experiments on an identified movement-sensitive neuron in the fly visual system. As far as we know this is the first instance in which a direct "reading" of the neural code has been accomplished.

The input/output properties of a 2 compartment model neuron are systematically explored. Taken from the work of MacGregor (MacGregor, 1987), the model neuron compartments contain several active conductances, including a potassium conductance in the dendritic compartment driven by the accumulation of intradendritic calcium. Dynamics of the conductances and potentials are governed by a set of coupled first order differential equations which are integrated numerically. There are a set of 17 internal parameters to this model, specificying conductance rate constants, time constants, thresholds, etc. To study parameter sensitivity, a set of trials were run in which the input driving the neuron is kept fixed while each internal parameter is varied with all others left fixed. To study the input/output relation, the input to the dendrite (a square wave) was varied (in frequency and magnitude) while all internal parameters of the system were left flXed, and the resulting output firing rate and bursting rate was counted. The input/output relation of the model neuron studied turns out to be much more sensitive to modulation of certain dendritic potassium current parameters than to plasticity of synapse efficacy per se (the amount of current influx due to synapse activation). This would in turn suggest, as has been recently observed experimentally, that the potassium current may be as or more important a focus of neural plasticity than synaptic efficacy.

In this paper, we discuss a current attempt at applying the organizational principle Edelman calls Neuronal Group Selection to the control of a real, two-link robotic manipulator. We begin by motivating the need for an alternative to the position-control paradigm of classical robotics, and suggest that a possible avenue is to look at the primitive animal limb'neurologically ballistic' control mode. We have been considering a selectionist approach to coordinating a simple perception-action task. 1 MOTIVATION The majority of industrial robots in the world are mechanical manipUlators - often armlike devices consisting of some number of rigid links with actuators mounted where the links join that move adjacent links relative to each other, rotationally or translation ally. At the joints there are typically also sensors measuring the relative position of adjacent links, and it is in terms of position that manipulators are generally controlled (a desired motion is specified as a desired position of the end effector, from which can be derived the necessary positions of the links comprising the manipulator). Position control dominates largely for historical reasons, rooted in bang-bang control: manipulators bumped between mechanical stops placed so as to enforce a desired trajectory for the end effector.

The midbrain of the barn owl contains a map-like representation of sound source direction which is used to precisely orient the head toward targets of interest. Elevation is computed from the interaural difference in sound level. We present models and computer simulations of two stages of level difference processing which qualitatively agree with known anatomy and physiology, and make several striking predictions. 1 INTRODUCTION

The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is the primary mechanism that controls the compensatory eye movements that stabilize retinal images during rapid head motion. The primary pathways of this system are feed-forward, with inputs from the semicircular canals and outputs to the oculomotor system. Since visual feedback is not used directly in the VOR computation, the system must exploit motor learning to perform correctly. Lisberger(1988) has proposed a model for adapting the VOR gain using image-slip information from the retina. We have designed and tested analog very largescale integrated (VLSI) circuitry that implements a simplified version of Lisberger's adaptive VOR model.