Design of a biomimetic robot inspired to the cownose ray

Author(s):  
Giovanni Bianchi ◽  
Roberto Cilio ◽  
Emilio D'Andretta ◽  
Simone Cinquemani ◽  
Ferruccio Resta
Keyword(s):  
Author(s):  
Giorgio Metta

This chapter outlines a number of research lines that, starting from the observation of nature, attempt to mimic human behavior in humanoid robots. Humanoid robotics is one of the most exciting proving grounds for the development of biologically inspired hardware and software—machines that try to recreate billions of years of evolution with some of the abilities and characteristics of living beings. Humanoids could be especially useful for their ability to “live” in human-populated environments, occupying the same physical space as people and using tools that have been designed for people. Natural human–robot interaction is also an important facet of humanoid research. Finally, learning and adapting from experience, the hallmark of human intelligence, may require some approximation to the human body in order to attain similar capacities to humans. This chapter focuses particularly on compliant actuation, soft robotics, biomimetic robot vision, robot touch, and brain-inspired motor control in the context of the iCub humanoid robot.


2021 ◽  
pp. 014616722110394
Author(s):  
Laurent Bègue ◽  
Kevin Vezirian

The present research investigated how scientific authority increases the lethal use of animals in biomedical experimentation. In two behavioral studies ( N = 151 and 150), participants were required to incrementally administer 12 doses of a toxic chemical to a 53-cm fish (in reality, a biomimetic robot) for research on animal learning. Consistent with the Engaged Followership Theory on obedience, participants placed in a pro-scientific mindset more severely harmed the laboratory animal. In a cross-sectional study ( N = 351), participants in medical fields endorsed a more pro-scientific attitude than those in paramedical fields, which mediated their support for animal experimentation. Drawing on a representative European sample ( N = 31,238), we also confirmed the specificity of this link by controlling for potential demographic and ideological confounds. In a final study ( N = 1,598), instrumental harm was shown as mediating the link between a pro-scientific attitude and support for animal experimentation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 69 (9) ◽  
pp. 1365
Author(s):  
E. Mümtaz Tıraşın ◽  
Nuri Başusta

Batoid chondrichthyans are vulnerable to commercial fisheries even though they are often not targeted. A greater understanding of their reproductive biology is important to facilitate their conservation. In February 2013, 89 female and 40 male Lusitanian cownose ray (Rhinoptera marginata) specimens were accidentally caught in Mersin Bay in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Thirty-six fish were gravid, each bearing one embryo. Of the remaining females, 39 were sexually mature but not gravid and 14 were immature. There were 28 mature and 12 immature males. The average disc width (DW) of both mature females (80.2cm) and males (74.2cm) was significantly higher than that of immature females (60.7cm) and males (60.3cm). For all rays, DW and total weight (TW) were in the range 55.7–98.2cm and 1802–13600g. The DW and TW measured for all 16 female and 20 male embryos were in the range 15.6–29.2cm and 57–281g. Such a large single haul sample, including many gravid specimens and mature males, indicates a schooling formation at capture. The location in Mersin Bay near the estuaries of the Tarsus and Seyhan rivers, and its relative closeness to the sampling location of a previously reported neonate, suggests that this region may be a nursery area for Lusitanian cownose rays in the eastern Mediterranean.


Author(s):  
Yi-chu Chang ◽  
Won-jong Kim

Smart materials have been used in various applications. In this paper, a walking robot with six two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) legs made of ionic polymer metal composite (IPMC) is designed and implemented. Each leg can work as both a supporter and a driver, closely mimicking a real insect. To support and drive the robot, thicker (around 1 mm in thickness) IPMC strips were fabricated and used, and a 0.2-rad/s square wave is given as an input signal. The IPMC strips exhibit better performance in response to the square wave (8 mm) than sawtooth (4 mm) and sinusoidal (6 mm) waves in deflection. By applying this input signal in sequence, all the IPMC strips bend and walk in the form of six legs. In addition, thin magnet wires were used to supply power to each strip to prevent from confining the motion of our robot. Six lower legs are divided into two groups that work in the opposite directions to move the robot forward by turns. Upper legs are also divided into two groups to lift up their lower legs from making the robot to move back to the same place. The sizes of the IPMC strips and our robot (102 mm × 80 mm × 43 mm) were decided to exhibit better performance (0.5 mm/s) according to our tests.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jolle W. Jolles ◽  
Nils Weimar ◽  
Tim Landgraf ◽  
Pawel Romanczuk ◽  
Jens Krause ◽  
...  

AbstractUnderstanding the emergence of collective behaviour has long been a key research focus in the natural sciences. Besides the fundamental role of social interaction rules, a combination of theoretical and empirical work indicates individual speed may be a key process that drives the collective behaviour of animal groups. Socially-induced changes in speed by interacting animals make it difficult to isolate the effects of individual speed on group-level behaviours. Here we tackled this issue by pairing guppies with a biomimetic robot. We used a closed-loop tracking and feedback system to let a robotic fish naturally interact with a live partner in real time, and programmed it to strongly copy and follow its partner’s movements while lacking any preferred movement speed or directionality of its own. We show that individual differences in guppies’ movement speed were highly repeatable and shaped key collective patterns: higher individual speeds resulted in stronger leadership, lower cohesion, higher alignment, and better temporal coordination in the pairs. By combining the strengths of individual-based models and observational work with state-of-the-art robotics, we provide novel evidence that individual speed is a key, fundamental process in the emergence of collective behaviour.


2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 688-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carolyn Cray ◽  
Marilyn Rodriguez ◽  
Cara Field ◽  
Alexa McDermott ◽  
Lynda Leppert ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 27-38
Author(s):  
Yueri Cai ◽  
Shusheng Bi ◽  
Guoyuan Li ◽  
Hans Petter Hildre ◽  
Houxiang Zhang

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