Reflecting on Human Reflexes
How does the patellar reflex work?Copyright 2008 ChristinaT3, Wikimedia Commons {PD} http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Patellar-knee-reflex.png
Students learn about human reflexes, how our bodies react to stimuli and how some body reactions and movements are controlled automatically, without thinking consciously about the movement or responses. In the associated activity, students explore how reflexes work in the human body by observing an involuntary human reflex and testing their own reaction times using dominant and non-dominant hands. Once students understand the stimulus-to-response framework components as a way to describe human reflexes and reactions in certain situations, they connect this knowledge to how robots can be programmed to conduct similar reactions.
Biological engineers and neuroscientists perceive human bodies as functioning, controlled systems, not unlike robots. Research is increasingly revealing that mathematical principles similar to those used in robotics are extremely useful or even necessary for a complete understanding of the human body. As an example of how engineers get ideas from human reflexes, painting robots are designed to take input from vision sensors in order to continuously move the robot sprayer tip so it is always positioned at the right distance from the car body as it paints.
After this lesson, students should be able to:
- Define reflexes and provide human body examples.
- List typical human reaction times.
- Explain the difference between conscious and automatic (unconscious) responses to stimuli.
- Explain how the "stimulus-sensor-coordinator-effector-response" loop works in humans and in robots and how engineers can apply this understanding when designing robots.