Inspired by a couple of simple organisms without eyes, neither ears. This paper presents a novel hybrid bionic robot, called "particle robot", which mix a macro-organism and a micro-organism in the same robot. On one hand, an interesting rather boring animal, the biological Echinoids (sea urchins) is mixed with the viruses micro-organisms, in specific the rotaviruses; together with spherical mobile robots. Analogously, from a pure robotic perspective, this bio-inspired robot can be seen as a spherical mobile robot wearing an actuated exoskeleton. The robot has two main configurations: when the spines are contracted it becomes a spherical mobile robot able to move in a fast pace on land, embedding all spherical mobile robots properties. On the other hand, when the spines or legs are extended in a controlled pattern, it can walk on flat surfaces as well as move on snow and over rocks as a bionic sea urchin. The spines of the robot are telescopic linear actuators, which combines soft and hard 3D print materials to make the actuation unit flexible for compressing it in minimal space and rigid for lifting the robot.
Hefei University of Technology（合肥工业大学）；Changzhou Inst of Tech（常州工学院）
To construct a robot that can walk as efficiently and steadily as humans or other legged animals, we develop an enhanced elitist-mutated ant colony optimization~(EACO) algorithm with genetic and crossover operators in real-time applications to humanoid robotics or other legged robots. This work presents promoting global search capability and convergence rate of the EACO applied to humanoid robots in real-time by estimating the expected convergence rate using Markov chain. Furthermore, we put a special focus on the EACO algorithm on a wide range of problems, from ACO, real-coded GAs, GAs with n…
Justifying bio-inspired robotics research: A taxonomy of strategies
Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan, USA（机械工程，密歇根大学，美国）；Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Michigan, USA（电气与计算机工程，密歇根大学，美国）；Robotics, Mechanical Engineering, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan, USA（机器人学、机械工程、生态学与进化生物学、动物博物馆，密歇根大学，美国）
The Chinese University of Hong Kong（香港中文大学）；National University of Singapore（新加坡国立大学）；Zhejiang University（浙江大学）；Hainan Institute, Zhejiang University（浙江大学海南研究院）
Soft robotics has opened a unique path to flexibility and environmental adaptability, learning from nature and reproducing biological behaviors. Nature implies answers for how to apply robots to real life. To find out how we learn from creatures to design and apply soft robots, in this Review, we propose a classification method to summarize soft robots based on different functions of biological systems: self-growing, self-healing, self-responsive, and self-circulatory. The bio-function based classification logic is presented to explain why we learn from creatures. State-of-art technologies, ch…
The Natural Robotics Contest: Crowdsourced Biomimetic Design
University of Surrey（萨里大学）；École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)（洛桑联邦理工学院）；Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学）；Queen Mary University of London（伦敦玛丽女王大学）；Royal College of Art（皇家艺术学院）
Bio-inspired reconfigurable stereo vision for robotics using omnidirectional cameras
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Intelligent Robotics and Flexible Manufacturing Systems, Southern University of Science and Technology（深圳智能机器人与柔性制造系统重点实验室，南方科技大学）
Force-Based Viscosity and Elasticity Measurements for Material Biomechanical Characterisation with a Collaborative Robotic Arm
Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, Università di Trento（信息工程与计算机科学系，特伦托大学）；DRIM, Ph.D. of national interest in Robotics and Intelligent Machines（国家重点 robotics 和智能机器博士项目）；Department of Industrial Engineering, Università di Trento（工业工程系，特伦托大学）
Harbin Engineering University（哈尔滨工程大学）；College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University（哈尔滨工程大学机电工程学院）
A new fluid-driven soft robot hand in this study uses the idea of the bionics and has the anthropomorphic form, which is oriented to the flexible grasp function. The soft robot hand is composed of a new kind of multi-freedom soft finger and soft palm, which realizes the characteristic grasping function of forehand and backhand. Combined with the fine fluid control system, the soft hand can realize flexible grasping under high pressure, so as to realize flexible grasping operation for different types of target objects in the underwater environment. The soft robot hand was controlled based on wa…
Autonomous robotic boats are expected to perform several tasks: 1) navigate autonomously in water environments, such as the canals of Amsterdam; 2) perform individual task, such as water monitoring, transporting goods and people; 3) latch together to create floating infrastructure, such as bridges and markets. In this paper we present a novel bio-inspired robotic system for latching, towing and guiding a floating passive-power-less platform. The challenge is to design an adaptive latching mechanism, able to create a secure connection between the entities, easy to attach/detach, even if the boa…
This paper describes the design of a web based multi agent design for a collision avoidance auto navigation biomimetic submarine for submarine hydroelectricity. The paper describes the nature of the map - topology interface for river bodies and the design of interactive agents for the control of the robotic submarine. The agents are migratory on the web and are designed in XML/html interface with both interactive capabilities and visibility on a map. The paper describes mathematically the user interface and the map definition languages used for the multi agent description
In the past decades, considerable attention has been paid to bio-inspired intelligence and its applications to robotics. This paper provides a comprehensive survey of bio-inspired intelligence, with a focus on neurodynamics approaches, to various robotic applications, particularly to path planning and control of autonomous robotic systems. Firstly, the bio-inspired shunting model and its variants (additive model and gated dipole model) are introduced, and their main characteristics are given in detail. Then, two main neurodynamics applications to real-time path planning and control of various …
Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences（鲁尔西区应用科学大学）
The goal of this work is the development of a motion model for sequentially timed movement actions in robotic systems under specific consideration of temporal stabilization, that is maintaining an approximately constant overall movement time (isochronous behavior). This is demonstrated both in simulation and on a physical robotic system for the task of intercepting a moving target in three-dimensional space. Motivated from humanoid motion, timing plays a vital role to generate a naturalistic behavior in interaction with the dynamic environment as well as adaptively planning and executing actio…
University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学）；ETH Zurich（苏黎世联邦理工学院）
The skin of humanoid robots often lacks human tactility and the inherent self-repair capability of biological tissues. Recently, researchers have grown a living, self-healing skin on a robot finger by subsequent culturing of human dermal and epidermal cells. Here, we highlight the significance of this study alongside challenges toward developing biohybrid robots equipped with sensate and adaptive living robotic skins.
Enhancing Efficiency and Propulsion in Bio-mimetic Robotic Fish through End-to-End Deep Reinforcement Learning
Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Science（中国科学院自动化研究所）；School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学人工智能学院）；Zhejiang University-Westlake University Joint Training（浙江大学-西湖大学联合培养）；Key Laboratory of Coastal Environment and Resources of Zhejiang Province, School of Engineering, Westlake University（浙江省海岸环境与资源重点实验室，西湖大学工程学院）；Institute of Advanced Technology, Westlake Institute for Advanced Study（西湖先进技术研究所，西湖研究院）
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering（电气与电子工程学院）
In the application of underwater creature study, comparing with propeller-powered ROVs and servo motor actuated robotic fish, novel biomimetic fish robot designs with soft actuation structure could interact with aquatic creatures closely and record authentic habitats and behaviours. This final project report presents the detailed design process of a hydraulic soft actuator powered robotic fish for aquatic creature study capable of swimming along the 3D trajectory. The robotic fish is designed based on the analysis of the pro and cons of existing designs. Except for the mechanical and electroni…
