@article{, author = {Bornet, Alban and Kaiser, Jacques and Kroner, Alexander and Falotico, Egidio and Ambrosano, Alessandro and Cantero, Kepa and Herzog, Michael and Francis, Gregory}, title = {Running Large-Scale Simulations on the Neurorobotics Platform to Understand Vision -- The Case of Visual Crowding}, journal = {Frontiers in Neurorobotics}, year = {2019}, month = may, abstract = {Traditionally, human vision research has focused on specific paradigms and proposed models to explain very specific properties of visual perception. However, the complexity and scope of modern psychophysical paradigms undermine the success of this approach. For example, perception of an element strongly deteriorates when neighboring elements are presented in addition (visual crowding). As it was shown recently, the magnitude of deterioration depends not only on the directly neighboring elements but on almost all elements and their specific configuration. Hence, to fully explain human visual perception, one needs to take large parts of the visual field into account and combine all the aspects of vision that become relevant at such scale. These efforts require sophisticated and collaborative modeling. The Neurorobotics Platform (NRP) of the Human Brain Project offers a unique opportunity to connect models of all sorts of visual functions, even those developed by different research groups, into a coherently functioning system. Here, we describe how we used the NRP to connect and simulate a segmentation model, a retina model, and a saliency model to explain complex results about visual perception. The combination of models highlights the versatility of the NRP and provides novel explanations for inward-outward anisotropy in visual crowding.}, howpublished = {Journal}, doi = {10.3389/fnbot.2019.00033}, keywords = {robotics, human brain project, HBP, neurorobotics, neuromorphics, brain simulation, spiking neural networks, NRP, robot simulation}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2019.00033/full}, } @article{, author = {Falotico, Egidio and Vannucci, Lorenzo and Ambrosano, Alessandro and Albanese, Ugo and Ulbrich, Stefan and Vasquez Tieck, Juan Camilo and Hinkel, Georg and Kirtay, Murat and Peric, Igor and Denninger, Oliver and Cauli, Nino and Roennau, Arne and Klinker, Gudrun and von Arnim, Axel and Guyot, Luc and Peppicelli, Daniel and Martinez-Canada, Pablo and Ros, Eduardo and Maier, Patrick and Weber, Sandro and Huber, Manuel and Plecher, David and R{\"{o}}hrbein, Florian and Deser, Stefan and Roitberg, Alina and van der Smagt, Patrick and Dillmann, R{\"{u}}diger and Levi, Paul and Laschi, Cecilia and Knoll, Alois and Gewaltig, Marc-Oliver}, title = {Connecting Artificial Brains to Robots in a Comprehensive Simulation Framework: The Neurorobotics Platform}, journal = {Frontiers in Neurorobotics}, year = {2017}, month = jan, abstract = {Combined efforts in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, and biology allowed to design biologically realistic models of the brain based on spiking neural networks. For a proper validation of these models, an embodiment in a dynamic and rich sensory environment, where the model is exposed to a realistic sensory-motor task, is needed. Due to the complexity of these brain models that, at the current stage, cannot deal with real-time constraints, it is not possible to embed them into a real-world task. Rather, the embodiment has to be simulated as well. While adequate tools exist to simulate either complex neural networks or robots and their environments, there is so far no tool that allows to easily establish a communication between brain and body models. The Neurorobotics Platform is a new web-based environment that aims to fill this gap by offering scientists and technology developers a software infrastructure allowing them to connect brain models to detailed simulations of robot bodies and environments and to use the resulting neurorobotic systems for in silico experimentation. In order to simplify the workflow and reduce the level of the required programming skills, the platform provides editors for the specification of experimental sequences and conditions, environments, robots, and brain–body connectors. In addition to that, a variety of existing robots and environments are provided. This work presents the architecture of the first release of the Neurorobotics Platform developed in subproject 10 “Neurorobotics” of the Human Brain Project (HBP).1 At the current state, the Neurorobotics Platform allows researchers to design and run basic experiments in neurorobotics using simulated robots and simulated environments linked to simplified versions of brain models. We illustrate the capabilities of the platform with three example experiments: a Braitenberg task implemented on a mobile robot, a sensory-motor learning task based on a robotic controller, and a visual tracking embedding a retina model on the iCub humanoid robot. These use-cases allow to assess the applicability of the Neurorobotics Platform for robotic tasks as well as in neuroscientific experiments.}, doi = {10.3389/fnbot.2017.00002}, keywords = {robotics, software architectures, robot programming, web technologies, human brain project, HBP, neurorobotics, neuromorphics, brain simulation, spiking neural networks, NRP, robot simulation}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbot.2017.00002/full}, } @inproceedings{, author = {Vannucci, Lorenzo and Ambrosano, Alessandro and Cauli, Nino and Albanese, Ugo and Falotico, Egidio and Ulbrich, Stefan and Pfotzer, Lars and Hinkel, Georg and Denninger, Oliver and Peppicelli, Daniel and Guyot, Luc and von Arnim, Axel}, title = {A visual tracking model implemented on the iCub robot as a use case for a novel neurorobotic toolkit integrating brain and physics simulation}, booktitle = {Proceedings of the {IEEE}-{RAS} International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids)}, pages = {1179--1184}, year = {2015}, month = nov, address = {Seoul, South Korea}, abstract = {Developing neuro-inspired computing paradigms that mimic nervous system function is an emerging field of research that fosters our model understanding of the biological system and targets technical applications in artificial systems. The computational power of simulated brain circuits makes them a very promising tool for the development for brain-controlled robots. Early phases of robotic controllers development make extensive use of simulators as they are easy, fast and cheap tools. In order to develop robotics controllers that encompass brain models, a tool that include both neural simulation and physics simulation is missing. Such a tool would require the capability of orchestrating and synchronizing simulations as well as managing the exchange of data both between them. The Neurorobotics Platform (NRP) aims at filling this gap through an integrated software toolkit enabling an experimenter to design and execute a virtual experiment with a simulated robot using customized brain models. As a use case for the NRP, the iCub robot has been integrated into the platform and connected to a spiking neural network. In particular, experiments of visual tracking have been conducted in order to demonstrate the potentiality of such a platform.}, doi = {10.1109/HUMANOIDS.2015.7363512}, keywords = {robotics, human brain project, HBP, neurorobotics, neuromorphics, brain simulation, spiking neural networks, NRP, robot simulation}, language = {English}, url = {http://vislab.isr.ist.utl.pt/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/evannucci-humanoids2015.pdf}, }