System integration of neuromorphic visual (DVS), processing (SpiNNaker) and servomotor modules into an autonomous robot controlled by a Spiking Neural Network

This paper describes the design and modus of operation of a neuromorphic robotic system based on SpiNNaker platform, and its implementation on the goalkeeper task. The robotic system utilizes an Address Event Representation (AER) type of camera (DVS) to capture features of a moving ball, and a servo motor to position the goalkeeper to intercept the incoming ball. At the backbone of the system is a microprocessor (Arduino Due) which facilitates the communication between different robot parts. A spiking neural network, which is running on SpiNNaker, predicts the location of arrival of the moving ball and decides where to place the goalkeeper. In our setup, the maximum data transmission speed of the closed-loop system is approximately 3000 packets per second for both uplink and downlink, and the robot can intercept balls whose speed is up to 1 m/s starting from the distance of about 0.8 m. The interception accuracy is 85%, the response latency is 6.5 ms and the maximum power consumption is 7.15 W. A demo video of the robot goalie is available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=135fH21QXtg .