Adaptive Circadian Rhythms for Autonomous and Biologically Inspired Robot Behavior

Abstract

Biological rhythms are periodic internal variations of living organisms that act as adaptive responses to environmental changes. The human pacemaker is the suprachiasmatic nucleus, a brain region involved in biological functions like homeostasis or emotion. Biological rhythms are ultradian (<24 h), circadian (∼24 h), or infradian (>24 h) depending on their period. Circadian rhythms are the most studied since they regulate daily sleep, emotion, and activity. Ambient and internal stimuli, such as light or activity, influence the timing and the period of biological rhythms, making our bodies adapt to dynamic situations. Nowadays, robots experience unceasing development, assisting us in many tasks. Due to the dynamic conditions of social environments and human-robot interaction, robots exhibiting adaptive behavior have more possibilities to engage users by emulating human social skills. This paper presents a biologically inspired model based on circadian biorhythms for autonomous and adaptive robot behavior. The model uses the Dynamic Circadian Integrated Response Characteristic method to mimic human biology and control artificial biologically inspired functions influencing the robot’s decision-making. The robot’s clock adapts to light, ambient noise, and user activity, synchronizing the robot’s behavior to the ambient conditions. The results show the adaptive response of the model to time shifts and seasonal changes of different ambient stimuli while regulating simulated hormones that are key in sleep/activity timing, stress, and autonomic basal heartbeat control during the day.