Information About

Malcolm A. MacIver Assistant Professor Depts. of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering Northwestern University 2145 Sheridan Road, D157 Evanston, IL 60208-3111, USA TEL: 847-491-3540 maciver(at)northwestern(dot)edu link to research site MA Philosophy, University of Toronto (1992) PhD Neuroscience, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (2001)

Research: The interplay of biomechanics and the nervous system: neuromechanics, neuroethology, robotics, and simulation, using weakly electric fish as a model system.

Simulation of the neural input resulting from the signal input due to a prey during a prey capture strike by a weakly electric fish. A colormap of the weakly electric discharge the fish uses to sense objects in its environment is shown in the background. The prey causes a change in the firing rate of sensory neurons, also indicated by a colormap.

One way to view an animal is that it represents an answer to the question: "What's out there that's relevant to my fitness, and how do I get there to acquire those resources?" There is both the informational, or sensory problem of detecting and assessing these resources, and the mechanical problem of moving to the resource, such as food or a mate. The research in my group is dedicated to understanding fundamental problems of how an animal's biomechanics relates to the animal's informational needs, particularly how to solve the problem of moving through space towards a target of interest while simultaneously increasing the quality of the information extracted from the biosensor arrays on the body surface. We are also dedicated to translating our findings into new robotic and computational technology for agile robots and intelligent sensing systems.  

Fish provide a convenient model system for this work as their brains are midrange in complexity between mammalian brains and the micronervous systems of other model organisms such as fruit flies and nematodes. Fish have all the major components of human brains other than neocortex.

We use a host of methods, including large scale simulations, robotics, modeling, neuronal recordings, and behavioral studies.

Infomechanical specializations for maximizing prey capture in knifefish. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, July 21 2007. Electrosensory Systems Satellite Meeting, 8th International Congress of Neuroethology.

How having a Buena Vista gives you the ability to plan for it. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, July 23, 2007. 8th International Congress of Neuroethology, Symposium on Top Down Influences in Active Sensing.

Robotic Electrolocation: Active Underwater Target Localization with Electric Fields. Angelicum University, Rome Italy, April 13 2007. Presented by James Solberg. 2007 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Session on Bio-inspired Perception.

Embodiment, control, and cognition: A fish eye's view from neuroethology. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, March 1 2007. The Department of Mechanical Engineering.

Embodiment, control, and cognition: A fish eye's view from neuroethology. University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA, February 16 2007. The Program in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science.

2006

Embodiment, control, and cognition. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA Nov 30, 2006. Machines and Organisms Seminar Series, Nonlinear Systems IGERT.

Towards Direct Numerical Simulation of Freely Swimming Fish, by Oscar M. Curet, Neelesh A. Patankar, and Malcolm A. MacIver. Presented by Oscar M. Curet. American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics, 59th Annual Meeting, Tampa FL, USA, Nov 19, 2006. Session AA: Biofluid Dynamics 1: Swimming-1.

Hydrodynamics of ribbon fin-based swimming with application to highly maneuverable underwater vehicles, by Neelesh A. Patankar, Oscar M. Curet, and Malcolm A. MacIver. Presented by Neelesh A. Patankar. American Physical Society, Division of Fluid Dynamics, 59th Annual Meeting, Tampa FL, USA, Nov 19, 2006. Session AA: Biofluid Dynamics 1: Swimming-1.

Spatial congruence of sensation and action: a general design principle for active sensing? Chicago IL, USA, Sept 22, 2006. Northwestern University, Department of Physiology.

Generating Thrust with a Biologically-Inspired Robotic Ribbon Fin, by Michael Epstein, J. Edward Colgate, and Malcolm A. MacIver. Presented by Malcolm A. MacIver. Beijing, China, October 10, 2006. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), session on robotic fish.

Embodiment, control, and cognition. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, MA, USA June 19, 2006. Neural Systems and Behavior Course, Evening lecture program.

Neuroethology: From Morphological Computation to Planning. University of Chicago, Feb 24, 2006. The Department of Philosophy, John Haugeland and William Wimsatt's graduate seminar on boundaries and modules.

Selected publications

MacIver, M.A., Snyder, J.B., Nelson, M.E., Burdick, J. W. The Coupling of Sensory and Movement Volumes in an Active Sensing System. Submitted.

MacIver, M.A. Neuroethology: From Morphological Computation to Planning. The Cambridge Handbook of Situated Cognition, Robbins P. & Aydede, M. (eds). Cambridge University Press. In press.

James R. Solberg, Kevin M. Lynch, Malcolm A. MacIver (2007) Robotic Electrolocation: Active Underwater Target Localization with Electric Fields. Proceedings of the 2007 International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Rome, Italy.

Epstein, M., Colgate, J.E, MacIver, M.A. (2005) A Biologically Inspired Robotic Ribbon Fin. Proceedings of the 2005 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), workshop on Morphology, Control, and Passive Dynamics.

Epstein, M., Colgate, J.E, MacIver, M.A. (2006) Generating Thrust with a Biologically-Inspired Robotic Ribbon Fin Source. Proceedings of the 2006 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Beijing, China.

MacIver, M.A., Fontaine, E., Burdick, J. W. (2004) Designing future underwater vehicles: principles and mechanisms of the weakly electric fish. IEEE Journal of Oceanic Engineering 29(3):651-659.

Nelson, M.E. and MacIver, M.A. (2006) Sensory acquisition in active sensing systems. Journal of Comparative Physiology A 192: 573-586.

Nelson, M. E., M. A. MacIver, and S. S. Coombs (2002). Modeling electrosensory and mechanosensory images during the predatory behavior of weakly electric fish. Brain, Behavior, and Evolution 59(4):199-210.

MacIver, M. A. and M. E. Nelson (2001). Towards a biorobotic electrosensory system. Autonomous Robots 11(3): 263-266.

MacIver, M. A. (2001). How building physical models can reduce and guide the abstraction of nature. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 24(6): 1066-1067.

MacIver, M. A., N. M. Sharabash, and M. E. Nelson (2001). Prey-capture behavior in gymnotid electric fish: Motion analysis and effects of water conductivity. Journal of Experimental Biology 204(3): 543-557.

MacIver, M. A. and M. E. Nelson (2000). Body modeling and model-based tracking for neuroethology. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 95(2): 133-143.

Nelson, M. E. and M. A. MacIver (1999). Prey capture in the weakly electric fish Apteronotus albifrons: Sensory acquisition strategies and electrosensory consequences. Journal of Experimental Biology 202(10): 1195-1203.