Generation of rhythmic and involuntary patterns for a swallowing robot

Based on medical literatures, swallowing is controlled by Central Pattern Generator (CPG). CPGs are nonlinear oscillators formed by neural circuits which can generate rhythmic movements without receiving central input or rhythmic sensory feedback. These days Matsuoka model has been widely accepted by many robots for generating rhythmic movements. In this paper we intend to present an approach to a swallowing robot control based on a Recurrent Cyclic Inhibition (RCI) circuit. In this design, the RCI consist of three neurons as a CPG to generate rhythmic movement. There are two kinds of working method under this control system in order to mimic human swallowing process: one is to modelling the behaviour the primary peristalsis, and the other is to imitating the secondary peristalsis.