Academic Education:

B.S., University of California, Riverside
Ph.D., University of California, Santa Cruz


Appointments:

Postdoctoral, CNRS, Institut de Neurophysiologie et Psychophysiology Marseille, France (1975-1976)

Postdoctoral, Neuroscience Program, University of California, San Diego (1976-1978)

Alfred Sloan Foundation Fellow, Northeastern University (1980-1982)

Director, Marine Science Center, Northeastern University (1991-2001)

Visiting Scholar, Institute for Nonlinear Science, UC San Diego (2003)

Other Professional Activities:

Review Editor, Frontiers in Neural Circuits

Associate Editor, Journal of Counterordinance Technology

Author: MIT Press http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?sid=C1F6ACBD-2D8E-4BF6-B642-FCCBB139068A&ttype=2&tid=8812, Springer Verlag: http://www.springer.com/life+sci/bioinformatics/book/978-4-431-22211-8

Co-PI. RoboBees Project, http://robobees.seas.harvard.edu/

Co-PI. Cyberplasm Project, http://www.cyberplasm.net/

Research Interests:

We build biomimetic robots based on simple neurobiological models, the lobster and sea lamprey. The robots feature a physical plant that captures the biomechanical advantages of the body form, a neuronal circuit-based controller, neuromorphic sensors, myomorphic actuators and a behavioral set based on action patterns, reverse engineered from movies of the animal models. Our controllers are based on neuronal circuits established from neurophysiology. To achieve real-time operation, we base our electronic neurons on nonlinear dynamical models of neuronal behavior rather than physiological models. We employ both UCSD electronic neurons and synapses (analog computers that solve the Hindmarsh-Rose equations) and discrete time map based neurons and synapses that are integrated on a DSP. Together these components provide an integrated architecture for the control of innate behavioral action patterns and reactive autonomy.

Teaching Activities:

I fully subscribe to the experiential aspect of undergraduate education and sponsor a variety of undergraduate directed studies and honors projects. I attempt to bring both my research activities into the classroom and make sure my students have excelllent exposure to the primary research literature and a critical eye toward the interpretation of data. I teach courses that range from brain structure/function to cellular neurophysiology.


Selected Publications:

Ayers, J. and Witting, J. (2007) Biomimetic Approaches to the Control of Underwater Walking
Machines. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, A, 365, 273–295.

Lee, Y., Lee, J., Kim, K., Kim, Y., Ayers, J. (2007) Low Power CMOS Electronic Central Pattern Generator Design for a Biomimetic Underwater Robot. Neurocomputing, 71: 284-296.

Selverston, A. & Ayers, J. (2006) Oscillations and Oscillatory Behavior in Small Neural Circuits. Biological Cybernetics 95:537–554.

Lee, Y.. Lee, J. Kim, Y.B., Ayers, J. (2005). Low power CMOS adaptive electronic central pattern generator design. IEEE Circuits and Systems 2: 1350-1353.

Ayers, J. (2004) Underwater Walking. Arthropod Structure and Development 33, 347-360.

Ayers, J., Rulkov (2006) Controlling Biomimetic Underwater Robots with Electronic Nervous
Systems, In: Proc. International Symposium on Aquabiomechanisms 2006, Springer-Verlag. Pp
295-306.

Selverston, A. I., Rabinovich, M. I., Huerta, R., Novotny, T., Levi, R., Arshavsky, Y.,
Volkovskii, A., Ayers, J. & Pinto, R. (2005) Biomimetic Central Pattern Generators for Robotics
and Prosthetics. In IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, 1: 885 - 888. Shenyang, China.

Swain, G.P., Snedeker, J.A., Ayers, J. & Selzer, M.E. (1993) The Cytoarchitectue of spinalprojecting neurons in the brain of the larval sea lamprey, J. Comp. Neurol, 336: 194-210.

Currie, S., and Ayers, J. (1983) Regeneration of Locomotor Command Systems in the lamprey. Brain Research 279: 238-240.

Ayers, J. (1989) Recovery of oscillator function following spinal regeneration in the sea lamprey.
In: Cellular and Neuronal Oscillators. J. Jacklet, [ed]. Marcel Dekker, New York, Pp. 349-383.

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