Abstract Insects, despite relatively small brains, can perform complex navigation tasks such as memorising a visual route. The exact format of visual memory encoded by neural systems during route learning and following is still unclear. Here we propose that interconnections between Kenyon cells in the Mushroom Body (MB) could encode spatio-temporal memory of visual motion experienced when moving along a route. In our implementation, visual motion is sensed using an event-based camera mounted on a robot, and learned by a biologically constrained spiking neural network model, based on simplified MB architecture and using modified leaky integrate-and-fire neurons. In contrast to previous image-matching models where all memories are stored in parallel, the continuous visual flow is inherently sequential. Our results show that the model can distinguish learned from unlearned route segments, with some tolerance to internal and external noise, including small displacements. The neural response can also explain observed behaviour taken to support sequential memory in ant experiments. However, obtaining comparable robustness to insect navigation might require the addition of biomimetic pre-processing of the input stream, and determination of the appropriate motor strategy to exploit the memory output.
Abstract Animals travelling through the world receive input from multiple sensory modalities that could be important for the guidance of their journeys. Given the availability of a rich array of cues, from idiothetic information to input from sky compasses and visual information through to olfactory and other cues (e.g. gustatory, magnetic, anemotactic or thermal) it is no surprise to see multimodality in most aspects of navigation. In this review, we present the current knowledge of multimodal cue use during orientation and navigation in insects. Multimodal cue use is adapted to a species’ sensory ecology and shapes navigation behaviour both during the learning of environmental cues and when performing complex foraging journeys. The simultaneous use of multiple cues is beneficial because it provides redundant navigational information, and in general, multimodality increases robustness, accuracy and overall foraging success. We use examples from sensorimotor behaviours in mosquitoes and flies as well as from large scale navigation in ants, bees and insects that migrate seasonally over large distances, asking at each stage how multiple cues are combined behaviourally and what insects gain from using different modalities.
The plays of Howard Barker the places of punishment become a way of addressing one of the great themes of Western drama: that of the relationship between emotion, rationality and the law. Barker's 'poetic' Theatre of Catastrophe deals compulsively with prisons. David Ian Rabey talks about the way in which 'Barker's landscapes are frequently. Dramaturgically, Barker's prisons are frequently places to escape from or to be released from in order to permit a subsequent journey, as happens in plays such as Fair Slaughter, A Wounded Knife and Ten Dilemmas: The Incarceration Text. In Brutopia Barker places a prison for heretics, literally, at the heart of More's apparently idyllic garden. One of his most moving essays is 'On Watching a Performance by Life Prisoners': this was a performance of one his own plays in Wormwood Scrubs, by a drama group formed in the prison.
Chapter 1: 'Binaries: early attitudes to conjuring' - Page 1 - Michael Mangan Chapter 2: 'The evil Spirit has a hand in the Tricks of these Jugglers: conjuring and Christian orthodoxy' - Page 19 - Michael Mangan Chapter 3: 'Fire and faggot to burn the witch? Conjuring between belief and unbelief in early modern England' - Page 31 - Michael Mangan Chapter 4: 'On the margins: criminals and fraudsters' - Page 62 - Michael Mangan Chapter 5: 'On the boundaries of the human' - Page 76 - Michael Mangan Chapter 6: 'Acting and not-acting: Robert-Houdin' - Page 97 - Michael Mangan Chapter 7: 'Before your very eyes: life, death and liveness' - Page 116 - Michael Mangan Chapter 8: 'Narrative ambiguity and contested meanings: interpreting Harry Houdini' - Page 140 - Michael Mangan Chapter 9: 'Mediums and the media' - Page 162 - Michael Mangan Chapter 10: 'Magic, media and postmodernism' - Page 172 - Michael Mangan
Automation of agricultural processes requires systems that can accurately detect and classify produce in real industrial environments that include variation in fruit appearance due to illumination, occlusion, seasons, weather conditions, etc. In this paper we combine a visual processing approach inspired by colour-opponent theory in humans with recent advancements in one-stage deep learning networks to accurately, rapidly and robustly detect ripe soft fruits (strawberries) in real industrial settings and using standard (RGB) camera input. The resultant system was tested on an existent data-set captured in controlled conditions as well our new real-world data-set captured on a real strawberry farm over two months. We utilise F 1 score, the harmonic mean of precision and recall, to show our system matches the state-of-the-art detection accuracy ( F 1 : 0.793 vs. 0.799) in controlled conditions; has greater generalisation and robustness to variation of spatial parameters (camera viewpoint) in the real-world data-set ( F 1 : 0.744); and at a fraction of the computational cost allowing classification at almost 30fps. We propose that the L*a*b*Fruits system addresses some of the most pressing limitations of current fruit detection systems and is well-suited to application in areas such as yield forecasting and harvesting. Beyond the target application in agriculture this work also provides a proof-of-principle whereby increased performance is achieved through analysis of the domain data, capturing features at the input level rather than simply increasing model complexity.
Inspired by Hamlet, The Middle (2013) was a one-man show devised for a theatre foyer - a liminal space between the outside and the inside, the real world and the theatre. Hamlet is a character caught in a limbo between ‘To be or not to be’ and by casting his father, Tony Pinchbeck, to play the title role, Michael Pinchbeck sought to explore time passing, staging ageing and the relationship between father and son. Tony studied Hamlet when he was at school so he is stuck in the middle between the fading memory of reading that play 50 years ago and reading it now.For this article, Pinchbeck reflects on the complex dramaturgical process of working with his father to revisit his performative memories. The contemporary dramaturg's job is to look for and after something that is not yet found. As David Williams tells Cathy Turner and Synne Behrndt, ‘you don't really know what is being sought’. As such, the dramaturg is in a limbo, or in the middle, between finding and looking, knowing and not knowing. The Middle (2013) speaks about the themes of liminality, ageing, stasis and mortality and the archiving of memory and explores this space in between generations, between stages, between ages.This article reflects on concepts of memory, time passing and ageing with Professor Michael Mangan, who explores these themes in his publication Staging Ageing: Narratives of Decline (2013). The article weaves together Pinchbeck's dramaturgical experience of making the performance with a father, and Mangan's experience of watching it through the lens of his research, and touches upon recent casting choices in order to explore issues of age and ageing and reminiscence theatre. The article is in two acts to be read without an interval.
Achieving a comprehensive understanding of animal intelligence demands an integrative approach that acknowledges the interplay between an organism’s brain, body and environment. Insects, despite their limited computational resources, demonstrate remarkable abilities in navigation. Existing computational models often fall short in faithfully replicating the morphology of real insects and their interactions with the environment, hindering validation and practical application in robotics. To address these gaps, we present I2Bot, a novel simulation tool based on the morphological characteristics of real insects. This tool empowers robotic models with dynamic sensory capabilities, realistic modelling of insect morphology, physical dynamics and sensory capacity. By integrating gait controllers and computational models into I2Bot, we have implemented classical embodied navigation behaviours and revealed some fundamental navigation principles. By open-sourcing I2Bot, we aim to accelerate the understanding of insect intelligence and foster advances in the development of autonomous robotic systems.
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