
Show HN: Nematoduino – Implementing a Worm on the Arduino UNO - nategri
https://github.com/nategri/nematoduino
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thethirdone
I was expecting a worm that would infect computers that tried to program
Arduinos and then would infect more Arduinos.

The actual content is cool in its own right, just not at all what I expected.

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have_faith
One step closer to Ghost in the Shell!

Great work, and seems like a very good learning device. Can't wait for more
complicated organisms to be mapped and more complex sensors and electronics
plugged in. The debate about what is and isn't consciousness is going to be
kept alive for a long time.

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lawlessone
Thanks for reminding me this exists..

It's cool but something about it still makes my hair stand on end.

I wonder would it be possible to build onto worm connectome?

add ways for it to handle visual stimuli?

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fenwick67
As somebody with no idea how nematodes work, what does this model do? Does it
basically try and find things that stimulate the chemotaxis neurons?

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simcop2387
It looks like it's using the neural map from
[http://www.openworm.org/](http://www.openworm.org/) to drive the robot
around. What researchers have done is made a complete connection map of all
the neurons in a nematode and what they do, allowing a simulation to be run
that essentially emulates the brain and nervous system of the worm.

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nategri
Author here. Thanks for all the awesome feedback, it's been a wonderful day :)

For a 1 minute clip showing nematoduino's reaction to nose touch stimulation,
with a comparison to a biological worm, check out this YouTube video I just
posted: [https://youtu.be/HIs7IbhaW7Y](https://youtu.be/HIs7IbhaW7Y)

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pmarreck
Is it self-reinforcing/learning, by any chance?

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nategri
The weights on the neural connections are fixed, so it probably has no
capacity for learning in the way that you're thinking.

However, this might actually be the case in the biological worm. This organism
is simple enough that the only 'training' it receives may be through the
evolutionary process.

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anfractuosity
Semi-related, I was reading a book called Wetware - A computer in every living
cell, and it mentions about William Grey Walter, who created simple robot
'tortoises'.

There's some intriguing videos of them -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQE82derooc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQE82derooc)
from the 50s.

I'm just trying to find some schematics at the moment, it sounds like they
used vacuum tubes.

Obviously Grey Walter's robots will be far more simplistic, but I found them
intriguing.

The OpenWorm project is really cool too, I'm curious how well their model maps
to reality now, whether it's possible or will be possible for the simulated
model to produce near identical movement to a real c. elegans under the
presence of certain chemicals.

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cr0sh
> I'm just trying to find some schematics at the moment, it sounds like they
> used vacuum tubes.

Yes - vacuum tubes and relays, cds cells (or maybe selenium cells).
Transistors would have been very expensive and fragile, if even available.

Here are some links that may help you:

[http://cyberneticzoo.com/category/cyberneticanimals/grey-
wal...](http://cyberneticzoo.com/category/cyberneticanimals/grey-walter-
cyberneticanimals/)

[http://www.roboticsportal.it/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/Spec...](http://www.roboticsportal.it/wp-
content/uploads/2014/01/Speculatrix.gif)

[http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exHhj_kM47Y/VVknwK5WPsI/AAAAAAAAA5...](http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-exHhj_kM47Y/VVknwK5WPsI/AAAAAAAAA5s/nRev66sTAYA/s1600/CircuitLivingBrainp242.JPG)

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mrguyorama
Now, it's just a short loop, but the gif in the project repo seems remarkably
organic when compared to a similar bot that just uses 20ish lines of code to
turn at walls. It even seems to pause and "think" at points

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nategri
I'm pretty sure that's it just running up against a wall :) But your point
still stands! Part of the joy of this project has been interacting with and
observing a biological system that for all intents and purposes behaves like
it is alive.

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cowabungamann
I'm very inexperienced with C, but why does this repo include so much of the
implementation in header (.h) files?

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TD-Linux
Arduino sketches don't have a "project file" to list which .c files to
compile, so instead you just include all the code into one compilation unit.
This works fine as most projects don't take long to compile anyway.

