Data from: Information-based centralization of locomotion in animals and robots

The centralization of locomotor control from weak and local coupling to
strong and global is hard to assess outside of particular modeling
frameworks. We developed an empirical, model-free measure of
centralization that compares information between control signals and both
global and local states. A second measure, co-information, quantifies the
net redundancy in global and local control. We first validate that our
measures predict centralization in simulations of phase-coupled
oscillators. We then test how centralization changes with speed in a
freely running cockroach. Surprisingly, across all speeds centralization
is constant and muscle activity is more informative of the global
kinematic state (the averages of all legs) than the local state of that
muscle’s leg. Finally we use a legged robot to show that mechanical
coupling alone can change the centralization of legged locomotion. The
results of these systems span a design space of centralization and
co-information for biological and robotic systems.