Exploring Neural Principles with Si elegans, a Neuromimetic Representation of the Nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Biological neural systems are powerful, robust and highly adaptive computational entities that outperformconventional computers in almost all aspects of sensory-motor integration. Despite dramatic progress ininformation technology, there is a big performance discrepancy between artificial computational systemsand brains in seemingly simple orientation and navigation tasks. In fact, no system exists that can faithfullyreproduce the rich behavioural repertoire of the tiny worm Caenorhabditis elegans which features one of thesimplest nervous systems in nature made of 302 neurons and about 8000 connections. The Si elegans projectaims at providing this missing link. This article is sketching out the main platform components.