Abstract:
Implantable electrode stimulation is widely used to regulate animal robots' movement behavior, yet poses risks of brain tissue damage during both electrode implantation and stimulation phases. With electrodes implanted into the skull bone, the steering behavior regulation in pigeon robots is investigated by the temporal interference (TI) stimulation method, a non-invasive neural regulation method capable of deep brain targeting. Firstly, a pigeon brain physical model is constructed for simulation test to analyze the electric field distribution, through which the electrode arrangement position and stimulation intensity are determined. Then, the effectiveness of this stimulation method in regulating the behavior of pigeon robots is further verified through behavioral experiments. Finally, the c-Fos immunohistochemistry method is used to determine the focus of the stimulus within the brain. Research shows that TI stimulation has an effective stimulation depth of 7.5~mm, which can effectively stimulate the dorsalis intermedius ventralis anterior (DIVA) that controls pigeon behaviors, and thus the behavioral regulation of pigeon robots is completed. The proposed method not only avoids the damage to the pigeon brain caused by the electrode implantation surgery, but also applies electrical stimulation to the vast majority of nuclei inside the pigeon brain based on this stimulation depth. With a verified feasibility of TI stimulation in the application of pigeon robot behavioral regulation, it provides a non-invasive stimulation method for animal robots.