9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is Pleurobot.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Pleurobot is a robot that we designed[br]to closely mimic a salamander species

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
called ??

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Pleurobot can walk, as you can see here,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and as you'll see later, it can also swim.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So you might ask,[br]why did we design this robot?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And in fact, this robot has been designed[br]as a scientific tool for neuroscience.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Indeed, we designed it[br]together with neurobiologists

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to understand how animals move,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and especially how the spinal cord[br]controls locomotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But the more I work in biorobotics,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the more I'm really impressed[br]by animal locomotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
If you think of a dolphin swimming[br]or a cat running or jumping around,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or even us as humans,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
when you go jogging or play tennis,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
we do amazing things.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And in fact, our nervous system solves[br]a very, very complex control problem.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It has to coordinate more[br]or less 200 muscles perfectly,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because if the coordination is bad,[br]we fall over or we do bad locomotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And my goal is to understand[br]how this works.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There are four main components[br]behind animal locomotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The first component is just the body,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and in fact we should never underestimate[br]what extent the biomechanics

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
already simplify locomotion in animals.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Then you have the spinal cord,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and in the spinal cord you find reflexes,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like multiple reflexes that create[br]a sensory motor coordination loop

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
between neural activity in the spinal cord[br]and mechanical activity.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A third component[br]are central pattern generators.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
These are very interesting circuits[br]in the spinal cord of vertebrate animals

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
that can generate, by themselves, very[br]coordinated rhythmic patterns of activity

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
while receiving only[br]very simple input signals.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And these input signals come from[br]descending modulation

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
from higher parts of the brain,[br]from the motor cortex, the cerebellum,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the basal ganglia, will all modulate[br]activity of the spinal cord

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
while we do locomotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
But what's interesting is to what extent[br]just a low level component,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
the spinal cord, together with the body,[br]already solves a big part

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
of the locomotion problem,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and you probably know it by the fact[br]that you can cut the head of the chicken,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
it can still run for a while,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
showing that just the lower part,[br]spinal cord and body,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
already solves a big part of locomotion.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Now, understanding how this works[br]is very complex,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
because first of all,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
recording activity in the spinal cord[br]is very difficult.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
It's much easier to implant electrodes[br]in the motor cortex

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
than in the spinal cord, because[br]it's protected by the vertebrae.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Especially in humans,[br]it's very hard to do.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
A second difficulty is that locomotion[br]is really due to a very complex

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and very dynamic interaction[br]between these four components.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So it's very hard to find out[br]what's the role of each over time.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
This is where biorobots like Pleurobot[br]and mathematical models

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
can really help.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So what's biorobotics?

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Biorobotics is a very active field[br]of research in robotics

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
where people want to take inspiration[br]from animals to make robots

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to go outdoors,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like service robots[br]or search-and-rescue robots

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
or field robots,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and the big goal here is[br]to take inspiration from animals

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to make robotics that can handle[br]complex terrain --

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
stairs, mountains, forests,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
places where robots[br]still have difficulties

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and where animals can do[br]a much better job.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
The robot can be[br]a wonderful scientific tool as well.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
There are some very nice projects[br]where robots are used

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like a scientific tool for neuroscience,[br]for biomechanics, or for ?? dynamics.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And this is exactly[br]the purpose of Pleurobot.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So what we do in my lab[br]is to collaborate with neurobiologists

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like Jean-Marie Cabelguen,[br]a neurobiologist in Bordeaux in France,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and we want to make spinal cord models[br]and validate them on robots.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And here we want to start simple.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
So it's good to start with simple animals

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like lampreys, which are[br]very primitive fish,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and then gradually go toward[br]more complex locomotion,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
like in salamanders,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
but also in cats and in humans,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
in mammals.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
And here, a robot becomes[br]an interesting tool

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
to validate our models,

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
and in fact, for me, Pleurobot[br]is a kind of dream becoming true.

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
Like, more or less 20 years ago[br]I was already working on a computer

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
making simulations of lamprey[br]and salamander locomotion

9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000
during my Ph.D