Place cell with location tuning characteristics play an important role in brain spatial cognition and navigation, but there is relatively little research on place cell screening and its influencing factors. Taking pigeons as model animals, the screening process of pigeon place cell was given by using the spike signal in pigeon hippocampus under free activity. The effects of grid number and filter kernel size on the place field of place cells during the screening process were analyzed. The results from the real and simulation data showed that the proposed place cell screening method presented in this study could effectively screen out place cell, and the research found that the size of place field was basically inversely proportional to the number of grids divided, and was basically proportional to the size of Gaussian filter kernel in the overall trend. This result will not only help to determine the appropriate parameters in the place cell screening process, but also promote the research on the neural mechanism of spatial cognition and navigation of birds such as pigeons.
Animal localization and trajectory tracking are of great value for the study of brain spatial cognition and navigation neural mechanisms. However, traditional optical lens video positioning techniques are limited in their scope due to factors such as camera perspective. For pigeons with excellent spatial cognition and navigation abilities, based on the beacon positioning technology, a three-dimensional (3D) trajectory positioning and tracking method suitable for large indoor spaces was proposed, and the corresponding positioning principle and hardware structure were provided. The results of in vitro and in vivo experiments showed that the system could achieve centimeter-level positioning and trajectory tracking of pigeons in a space of 360 cm × 200 cm × 245 cm. Compared with traditional optical lens video positioning techniques, this system has the advantages of large space, high precision, and high response speed. It not only helps to study the neural mechanisms of pigeon 3D spatial cognition and navigation, but also has high reference value for trajectory tracking of other animals.
The neural stimulator is a core component of animal robots. While the control effect of animal robots is influenced by various factors, the performance of the neural stimulator plays a decisive role in regulating animal robots. In order to optimize animal robots, embedded neural stimulators had been developed using flexible printed circuit board technology. This innovation not only enabled the stimulator to generate parameter-adjustable biphasic current pulses through control signals, but also optimized its carrying mode, material, and size, overcoming the disadvantages of traditional backpack or head-inserted stimulators, which have poor concealment and are prone to infection. Static, in vitro, and in vivo performance tests of the stimulator demonstrated that it not only had precise pulse waveform output capability, but also was lightweight and small in size. It had excellent in vivo performance in both laboratory and outdoor environments. Our study has high practical significance for the application of animal robots.