Acutators Cortical Areas
Welcome to the actuators cortical areas type tutorial! Actuators are responsible for converting energy into movement. Some examples of actuators that we have implemented in FEAGI include motor control, servo control, navigation, speed, motion control, emergency stop, and position initializer.
Actuators Chart
Welcome to the actuators cortical areas type tutorial! Actuators are responsible for converting energy into movement. Some examples of actuators that we have implemented in FEAGI include motor control, servo control, navigation, speed, motion control, emergency stop, and position initializer.
Motor Control
Motor Control, by default, has dimensions of 2 x 1 x 10. The first column signals movements forward, while the second column signals movements backwards If you want to control your robot using 2 motors, extend motor control's dimensions by 2 on the X axis so the new dimensions are 4 x 1 x 10 When you add a cortical area, you are selecting the number of channels On the motor control cortical area, the z dimension represents the speed, based on a %, ranging from 0-100 0 represents the power, so your motor will not move even though you will see its associated neuron fire In this example, Z1 is the slowest speed 9 is the fastest speed
Servo Control
The servo output cortical area adjusts the angle of rotation. The default dimensions are, yet again, 2x1x10, with the 1st column representing a movement clockwise and the 2nd column representing a movement counter clockwise. Like the motor output cortical area, the degree of rotation ranges from 0-100% and can be adjusted by extending across the z-axis. In this example, the robot's head is tiltable using Servo. You can see the robot’s head turn to different directions according to which block was activated.
Navigation Vector
By default, the navigation output cortical area is 3x1x21. Its purpose is to combine XYZ for specific movements. Positive values indicate positive movement, for example going forward, up, or left, depending on the robot. Negative values indicate opposite movements, for example going backward, down, or right. In this scenario X makes the drone move left to right. Y makes the robot move up and down. Z makes the robot come forward and backward. When we combine these columns and positive/negative controls together we are able to direct the robot to move in a specific direction.
Navigation Speed
Used in tandem with the navigation cortical area, speed ranges from 0-9, once again representing a range of values from 0-100%. Speed cortical area allows you to control the speed of the xyz movements.
Motion Control
By default, the motion output cortical area is 4x3x1. As you can see in this diagram, it controls yaw, rolling, pitching, and cardinal directions. In order from bottom left to top right, the controls are: move left, up, down, right, roll left, pitch forward, pitch backward, roll right, yaw left, and yaw right.
Position Initializer
Commonly used in simulations, like the car embodiment, the position initializer allows you to reset the robot’s position to where it will now start.
Emergency Stop
The emergency stop control must be integrated properly depending on the robot. In the case of a drone, it will stop the robot immediately when it is activated.
