A New Cyborg Rat Auto Navigation System Based on Finite State Machine

Due to its high environmental adaptation and locomotor abilities, the cyborg rat, a novel form of robot created since brain–computer interface technology, has demonstrated great potential in search and rescue operations following natural disasters such as earthquakes. However, there is currently no overarching framework for building an autonomous navigation system for cyborg animal. In this article, we propose an auto navigation system for cyborg rat based on an inertial sensor and an infrared thermal sensor. The navigation system utilizes an inertial sensor to detect and analyze the rat’s movement, an infrared thermal sensor to identify infrared target objects, and lastly feeds the sensor data into a finite state machine, which outputs an optimized stimulus pattern to lead and control the cyborg rat to finish the corresponding movement. Finally, our navigation model can guide the cyborg rat to achieve autonomous search for target objects in the open field, and it exhibits strong exploratory capabilities in a 55 m complex field.