Understanding how integrated neural architectures generate coherent behaviors remains a primary challenge in neuroscience. The Little Brain Project is a research proposal aimed at understanding brain function and neural circuits through the lens of evolutionary processes. Moving away from isolated circuit analysis, this nascent project leverages Braitenberg’s synthetic psychology and Brooks’ subsumption architecture to investigate how complex adaptive behaviors emerge across phylogenetic evolution from integrated sensorimotor loops. To support this effort, we introduce the Little Brain Project (LBP) Simulator, a newly developed platform integrating PyTorch-based neural networks with MuJoCo physics and real robots. The environment simulates multimodal interactions—such as visual retinas, active whisker sensing, and polarized light navigation—alongside neural features like ring attractors and neuromodulated internal states. Future milestones will introduce neuromodulator-driven Hebbian learning, using systematically evolved physical robots to investigate how integrated neural architectures generate coherent adaptive behaviors.
Hugo Gravato Marques graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He earned his PhD at the University of Essex under the supervision of Owen Holland, where he developed computational architectures to endow artificial systems with imagination-like capabilities.He then completed postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich in the laboratories of Rolf Pfeifer and Fumiya Iida, focusing on bio-inspired control strategies for anthropomimetic robots. Afterwards, he joined Megan Carey’s laboratory at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon as a postdoctoral researcher, utilizing electrophysiology and imaging techniques to investigate locomotor coordination and learning in the mouse cerebellum. Currently, he serves as the Head of the Teaching Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation. In this role, he contributes to the doctoral program and advanced Cajal neuroscience courses while collaborating on several research projects across the institute.
Understanding how integrated neural architectures generate coherent behaviors remains a primary challenge in neuroscience. The Little Brain Project is a research proposal aimed at understanding brain function and neural circuits through the lens of evolutionary processes. Moving away from isolated circuit analysis, this nascent project leverages Braitenberg’s synthetic psychology and Brooks’ subsumption architecture to investigate how complex adaptive behaviors emerge across phylogenetic evolution from integrated sensorimotor loops. To support this effort, we introduce the Little Brain Project (LBP) Simulator, a newly developed platform integrating PyTorch-based neural networks with MuJoCo physics and real robots. The environment simulates multimodal interactions—such as visual retinas, active whisker sensing, and polarized light navigation—alongside neural features like ring attractors and neuromodulated internal states. Future milestones will introduce neuromodulator-driven Hebbian learning, using systematically evolved physical robots to investigate how integrated neural architectures generate coherent adaptive behaviors.
Hugo Gravato Marques graduated with a degree in Computer Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto. He earned his PhD at the University of Essex under the supervision of Owen Holland, where he developed computational architectures to endow artificial systems with imagination-like capabilities.He then completed postdoctoral research at the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich in the laboratories of Rolf Pfeifer and Fumiya Iida, focusing on bio-inspired control strategies for anthropomimetic robots. Afterwards, he joined Megan Carey’s laboratory at the Champalimaud Foundation in Lisbon as a postdoctoral researcher, utilizing electrophysiology and imaging techniques to investigate locomotor coordination and learning in the mouse cerebellum. Currently, he serves as the Head of the Teaching Lab at the Champalimaud Foundation. In this role, he contributes to the doctoral program and advanced Cajal neuroscience courses while collaborating on several research projects across the institute.
More talks will be confirmed soon!
The ISR Open Day 2026 is supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through national funds, within the scope of the Multiannual Funding of R&D Units with reference UID/00048/2025 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UID/00048/2025)