Bioinspired Monolithically Designed Compliant Swimming Robots

As technology advances and enables us to design and realize complex systems using new materials and manufacturing methods, biologically inspired robots in every aspect of engineering have attracted much attention in the last few decades. This paper presents the design and motion analysis of monolithically designed two compliant swimming robots that are actuated and controlled by single motor. Each design incorporates large deflecting compliant members and rigid levers to transfer the input torque to the different parts on the mechanism. While the first design integrates flexible tail to perform swimming motion, the second design adopts snapping type motion for the same action. Both mechanisms are 3D printed and tested for forward motion. The first robot has a constant speed of 0.68 BL/s while the second has an average speed of 0.6 BL/s. Kinematic model using pseudo rigid body modeling (PRBM) is derived to calculate the load-deflection curves of the flexible tail for Design I, finite element analysis for deflection analysis are performed for Design II.

Metal or muscle? The future of biologically inspired robots

Biology has inspired the development of agile robots, and it is now teaching us how to grow machines from living cells.

Design of Propulsive Virtual Holonomic Constraints for Planar Snake Robots

Virtual holonomic constraints (VHCs) framework is a recent control paradigm for systematic design of motion controllers for wheel-less biologically inspired snake robots. Despite recent developments for VHC-based control systems for ground and underwater robotic snakes, they employ only two families of propulsive virtual holonomic constraints, i.e., lateral undulatory and eel-like virtual constraints. In this paper we extend the family of propulsive virtual constraints that can be used with VHC-based controllers by presenting a VHC analysis and synthesis methodology for planar snake robots that are subject to ground friction forces. In particular, we present a nonlinear differential inequality that guarantees forward motion of planar snake robots under the influence of VHCs. Furthermore, we provide a family of hyperbolic partial differential equations that can be employed to generate propulsive virtual holonomic constraints for these biologically inspired robots. Simulations are presented to verify the proposed analysis/synthesis methodology.

Humanoids and the Potential Role of Electroactive Materials/Mechanisms in Advancing their Capability

Humanoids are increasingly becoming capable biologically inspired robots that are appearing and behaving lifelike. Making humanlike robots is the ultimate challenge to biomimetics and, while for many years they were considered a science fiction, such robots are increasingly becoming engineering reality. Progress in producing such robots are allowing them to perform impressive functions and tasks. In 2012, in an effort to promote significant advances in developing humanoids, DARPA posed a Robotic Challenge to produce such robots that operate in disaster scenarios towards making society more resilient. The challenge was focused on the requirements that have been needed after the Fukushima accident in Japan, hoping to advance the field of disaster robotics. This disaster posed significant challenges to emergency responders since radiation prevented people from going into the station and venting the explosive gas. Another significant development in this field is the fact that major US corporations have entered into the race to produce commercial humanoids. As a result, one can expect significant and rapid progress in this field. Developing humanoids is critically dependent of the use of highly efficient, compact, lightweight actuators and electroactive materials are offering great potential. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of humanlike robots, potential applications and challenges, as well as the actuation materials that are used or could be used.

Screw theory based motion analysis for an inchworm-like climbing robot

SUMMARYTo obtain better performance on unstructured environments, such as in agriculture, forestry, and high-altitude operations, more and more researchers and engineers incline to study classes of biologically inspired robots. Since the natural inchworm can move well in various types of terrain, inchworm-like robots can exhibit excellent mobility. This paper describes a novel inchworm-type robot with simple structure developed for the application for climbing on trees or poles with a certain range of diameters. Modularization is adopted in the robot configuration. The robot is a serial mechanism connected by four joint modules and two grippers located at the front and rear end, respectively. Each joint is driven by servos, and each gripper is controlled by a linear motor. The simplified mechanism model is established, and then is used for its kinematic analysis based on screw theory. The dynamics of the robot are also analyzed by using Lagrange equations. The simulation of the robot gait imitating the locomotion of real inchworm is finally presented.

A GOAL-ORIENTATION FRAMEWORK FOR SELF-ORGANIZING CONTROL

Self-organization, especially in the framework of embodiment in biologically inspired robots, allows the acquisition of behavioral primitives by autonomous robots themselves. However, it is an open question how self-organization of basic motor primitives and goal-orientation can be combined, which is a prerequisite for the usefulness of such systems. In the paper at hand we propose a goal-orientation framework allowing the combination of self-organization and goal-orientation for the control of autonomous robots in a mutually independent fashion. Self-organization based motor primitives are employed to achieve a given goal. This requires less initial knowledge about the properties of robot and environment and increases adaptivity of the overall system. A combination of self-organization and reward-based learning seems thus a promising route for the development of adaptive learning systems.