Modeling Hydra Behavior Using Methods Founded in Behavior-Based Robotics

Abstract

In this thesis work methods from the field of behavior-based robotics are used to model the behavior of a biological organism. The cnidarian Hydra was selected as the model organism for this project, and the colony-style architecture was chosen as the method to be used for organizing the constituent behaviors of Hydra into an overall behavior. The individual behaviors were generated and organized in a simulated animal. Validation of the individual behaviors were carried out with respect to quantitative data available from previously conducted experiments on the animal. In the case of the overall behavior, which emerged from the organization of the individual behaviors using the colony-style architecture, only a qualitative comparison was feasible. Tests conducted on the modeled Hydra suggests that the colony-style architecture can be used to model behavior properties like latency, activation threshold, habituation, and duration of the individual behaviors of Hydra. Simulations of the overall behavior of the animal show that the spatial movement patterns of Hydra in the absence of external stimuli, as well as the effect of starvation on its contraction frequency, agrees with results from experiments conducted on the physical