When I started to really get into robotics, mechanics, and automation back in the late 80s and early 90s, the fork in the road of Rodney Brooke's subsumption ar

When I started to really get into robotics, mechanics, and automation back in the late 80s and early 90s, the fork in the road of Rodney Brooke's subsumption architecture, but still digital, approach versus Mark Tilden's BEAM analog approach really had me trying both. CPGs (Central Pattern Generators) were often implemented using simple RC (resistor-capacitor) circuits within his "nervous net" (NvNet) architectures. The RC circuits generated rhythmic patterns that drove the robots' motor behaviors, allowing gaits to emerge naturally from the interaction of these analog components with the environment and the robot's mechanical structure. This approach enabled adaptive, robust locomotion without requiring complex digital control systems. His 6-legged robots could lose a leg, and the system would take feedback from the stuck or missing leg, and learn to walk with 5 or 4 legs. Amazing stuff.