Emergence of Human Oculomotor Behavior in a Cable-Driven Biomimetic Robotic Eye Using Optimal Control

This article explores the application of model-based optimal control principles in understanding stereotyped human oculomotor behaviors. Using a realistic model of the human eye with a six-muscle cable-driven actuation system, we tackle the novel challenges of addressing a system with six degrees of freedom. We apply nonlinear optimal control techniques to optimize accuracy, energy, and duration of eye-movement trajectories. Employing a recurrent neural network to emulate system dynamics, we focus on generating rapid, unconstrained saccadic eye-movements. Remarkably, our model replicates realistic 3-D rotational kinematics and dynamics observed in human saccades, with the six cables organizing themselves into appropriate antagonistic muscle pairs, resembling the primate oculomotor system.