Amoeba-inspired electronic computing system and its application to autonomous walking of a multi-legged robot

An amoeba-inspired electronic computing system that searches a solution of a combinational optimization problem was developed. The computing system, called electronic amoeba, electronically represents the spatiotemporal dynamics of a single-celled amoeboid organism that is trying to maximize its food intake while minimizing the risks. We implemented the system using a conventional electronic circuit and successfully demonstrated its solution search capability for a Boolean satisfiability problem, SAT. The electronic amoeba was applied to autonomous walking of a four-legged robot without programming any leg maneuvers. The robot could walk to the target direction by successively searching a combination of the multi-valued leg joint states depending on the previous states and sensor information. We also confirmed that our approach arose the ability to travel over obstacles without prior information.