Steering control of a mobile robot using insect antennae

Abstract

A male silk moth (Bombyx mori) pursues a female by following a pheromone, called Bombycol. This action is caused by only a few molecules of pheromone which arrive at the antenna of a male silk moth. The antenna has very sharp sensitivity and specificity. In this paper, the use of a biological sensor is discussed as a new type of sensor, in other words "living sensors". The electrical activity of a silk moth antenna, called the electroantennogram (EAG) was obtained using self-made electrodes and amplifier. Two pheromone sensors were attached to a simple mobile robot to determine the direction of a pheromone trace. From this information, we were able to control the direction of the robot. The robot followed the pheromone trace just like a real male silk moth.