The Design Of The Microdrive For Locomotor Control Of The Free-moving Gecko

The robot system lags far behind animals in stability, flexibility, robust, environmental adaptationand efficiency of energy sources, so stimulating or controlling the motion of animals and makinganimals moving according human’s order, generally named as biorobot become a new attractivedirection in robotics researches. The Lizards, Gekko gecko are well-known for their marvelousmobility on various terrains and surfaces, such as grounds, walls and ceilings, that made them the hotspot for the research. For neural stimulating and recording in neuroethologic studies, different customdesigned electrode microdrives are required for different unrestrained species. Here a novelmicrodrive was designed and manufactured especially for the locomotion control studies of freemoving Lizards, Gekko gecko.The microdrive could implant the microelectrodes to the certain sites after the skull opening. Themicrodrive system mainly consists of an enclosed titanium case to protect the skull opening and shieldexternal signal and a crew-and-nut mechanism to drive the electrode. The whole system has beenminiaturized to9.6mm×9.8mm×11.8mm in volume and2.05g in weight, that is suitable for the headmorphology and loading capability of the animal. This system has successfully been applied to thelocomotion control studies with free-moving Gekko gecko.To study the function of midbrain relative to movement, we stimulated the free-moving gecko byprevious microdrive. The results revealed that the turning responses were elicited while stimulatingthe corpus geniculatum pretectale, nucleus profundus mesencephali and nucleus ruber, theadvancement responses were elicited while stimulating the nucleus of the fasciculus longitudinalismedialis, the sound and retropulsion responses were elicited while stimulating nucleus centralis of thetorus semicircularis and nucleus laminaris of the torus semicircularis, the turning the body overresponses were elicited while stimulating the medial of the laminaris of the torus semicircularis.Designing a fixture for magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) of Gekko gecko, and study theconnections of midbrain of Gekko gecko. The results revealed that the manganese-enhancedmagnetic resonance imaging(MEMRI) is a useful method to study neural pathway of the midbrain.