Neuromorphic Spiking Ring Attractor for Proprioceptive Joint-State Estimation

Robotic systems with revolute joints evolve on circular state spaces, yet most control architectures represent these states using Euclidean variables that ignore this underlying geometry. We propose a fully spiking neural control architecture in which ring attractors encode joint states, enforcing representations consistent with the topology of revolute systems. Homeostatic regulation computes goal-state mismatch directly over these distributed representations, and opponent gain-modulated populations convert this mismatch into controlled phase shifts of the activity bump, implementing set-point regulation as motion on the ring. We show that the bump dynamics follow an SO(2) geometry, and that gain asymmetries induce a signed phase velocity on the ring. To interface distributed activity with scalar regulation signals, we derive an analytic Fourier phase decoder and implement its signed components using push-pull spiking populations. For multi-joint systems, we demonstrate that local ring-based Fourier features compose into product representations that linearly decode SO(3) orientations through forward kinematics. Experiments in NEST validate the full SO(2) regulation mechanism and the spiking product-feature decoder for lift, pitch, and yaw. Robot experiments on a Tiago arm show that decoded ring dynamics generate joint velocity commands, producing directed motion with joint-dependent accuracy. Together, these results establish a neuromorphic control framework in which representation, regulation, and action are unified within a ring-attractor substrate aligned with the geometry of revolute systems.

Biological neural networks continuously adapt and modify themselves in response to experiences throughout their lifetime - a capability largely absent in artificial neural networks. Hebbian plasticity offers a promising path toward rapid adaptation in changing environments. Here, we introduce Hebbian Attractor Networks (HAN), a class of plastic neural networks in which local weight update normalization induces emergent attractor dynamics. Unlike prior approaches, HANs employ dual-timescale plasticity and temporal averaging of pre- and postsynaptic activations to induce either co-dynamic limit cycles or fixed-point weight attractors. Using simulated locomotion benchmarks, we gain insight into how Hebbian update frequency and activation averaging influence weight dynamics and control performance. Our results show that slower updates, combined with averaged pre- and postsynaptic activations, promote convergence to stable weight configurations, while faster updates yield oscillatory co-dynamic systems. We further demonstrate that these findings generalize to high-dimensional quadrupedal locomotion with a simulated Unitree Go1 robot. These results highlight how the timing of plasticity shapes neural dynamics in embodied systems, providing a principled characterization of the attractor regimes that emerge in self-modifying networks.

In biological circuits, sequential neural activity evolves along dynamic, low-dimensional manifolds to enable flexible behavior. Spiking network models link aspects of this sequential activity to features of manifold geometry through specific circuit mechanisms, making dynamic neural manifolds parameterizable, and thereby offering an explainable framework for neural computation. Extending this framework to neuromorphic engineering, we present an implementation on the SpiNNaker 2 chip for real-time, closed-loop control. By allowing sensory inputs to modulate heterogeneous inhibition, gain, and transient currents, our architecture drives rapid subspace rotations to switch between behaviors, as well as fine-grained trajectory control within them. We validate this via a robotic simulation where an agent uses sensory feedback to dynamically reconfigure its manifold geometry to navigate through a maze. Our results establish dynamic manifolds as a feasible approach for explainable neuromorphic architectures and a substrate for investigating biological neural dynamics.