Efficient and robust control with spikes that constrain free energy.

Spiking control networks that constrain free energy achieve high efficiency and robustness with sparse activity, matching performance of non-spiking frameworks in biological and engineered systems.

• Why it matters: Understanding how brains perform perception and action efficiently and robustly remains limited, hindering insights into cognition and the development of control algorithms for dynamical systems.
• What they did: Researchers developed a biologically plausible spiking control framework where neurons fire only to reduce free energy, demonstrating high resilience to external and internal perturbations in simulated networks.
• The result: This approach offers a mathematical model for spiking control via free energy constraints, advancing understanding of brain function and enabling efficient control in neuromorphic hardware.