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Cog's Vestibular System
The Cog Shop
MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
545 Technology Square, #920
Cambridge, MA 02139
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The human vestibular system plays a critical role in thecoordination
of motor responses, eye movement, posture, and balance. The human vestibular sensory organ
consists of the three semi-circular canals, which measure the acceleration of head
rotation, and the two otolith organs, which measure linear movements of the head and the
orientation of the head relativeto gravity. To mimic the human vestibular system, Cog has
three rate gyroscopesmounted on orthogonal axes (corresponding to the semi-circular
canals) and twolinear accelerometers (corresponding to the otolith organs). Each of these
devices is mounted in the head of the robot, slightly below eye level. Analog signals
fromeach of these sensors is amplified on-board the robot, and processed on-board by a
commercial A/D converter attached to one of the PC brain nodes. |