Abstract
Insects have an ability to track airborne odorants and localize the odor source. To apply this ability to artificial odor source localization, we used silkmoths, well-known model insects in odor tracking, and developed a novel insect-machine hybrid system. A mobile robot bearing two gas sensors was located in the odor plume and was remotely controlled by a tethered walking silkmoth located in a different place. Olfactory information acquired by the gas sensors was transformed into optical signals which were recognized as olfactory input to the channelrhodopshin-2 (ChR2) transgenic male silkmoth. The moth responded to the optical signal and performed odor tracking behavior and the robot was controlled based on the behavior. We named this optical connection between the artificial sensors and insects as 'bio-photocoupler' and proposed this hybrid system as one of the most effective way to apply the insect sensory-motor system into an artificial system.
