Wing design is a critical factor in the aerodynamic performance of flapping-wing(FW)robots.Inspired by the natural wing structures of insects,bats,and birds,we explored how bio-mimetic wing vein morphologies,combined ...Wing design is a critical factor in the aerodynamic performance of flapping-wing(FW)robots.Inspired by the natural wing structures of insects,bats,and birds,we explored how bio-mimetic wing vein morphologies,combined with a bio-inspired double wing clap-and-fling mechanism,affect thrust generation.This study focused on increasing vertical force and payload capacity.Through systematic experimentation with various vein configurations and structural designs,we developed innovative wings optimized for thrust production.Comprehensive tests were conducted to measure aerodynamic forces,power consumption,and wing kinematics across a range of flapping frequencies.Additionally,wings with different aspect ratios,a key factor in wing design,were fabricated and extensively evaluated.The study also examined the role of bio-inspired vein layouts on wing flexibility,a critical component in improving flight efficiency.Our findings demonstrate that the newly developed wing design led to a 20%increase in thrust,achieving up to 30 g-force(gf).This research sheds light on the clap-and-fling effect and establishes a promising framework for bio-inspired wing design,offering significant improvements in both performance and payload capacity for FW robots.展开更多
The main cable is the primary load-bearing component of a suspension bridge,continuously exposed to harsh environmental conditions,such as wind and rain,throughout the year.These adverse conditions contribute to varyi...The main cable is the primary load-bearing component of a suspension bridge,continuously exposed to harsh environmental conditions,such as wind and rain,throughout the year.These adverse conditions contribute to varying degrees of degradation and damage to the main cable,necessitating regular inspections to prevent catastrophic failures.Traditional manual inspection methods not only suffer from low efficiency but also pose significant safety risks to personnel.To address these challenges and ensure the safe and effective inspection of suspension bridge main cables,this study introduces a novel cooperative climbing robot,designated as Main Cable Robot Version II(CCRobot-M-II),inspired by the locomotion of the inchworm.The robot employs an alternating opening and closing mechanism of four gripper sets,mimicking the inchworm's movement to achieve efficient crawling along the suspension bridge handrails.This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the structural design,key components,and motion mechanisms of CCRobot-M-II.A detailed force analysis of the robot's crawling process is also presented,followed by the design of the control system and the development of an efficient motion control algorithm.Laboratory experiments demonstrate that the robot achieves a positional error of 00.64%during crawling,with a maximum average crawling speed of 7.6 m/min.Furthermore,the biomimetic design enables the robot to overcome obstacles up to 30 mm in height and possess the capability to handle suspension bridge cables with spans ranging from 740 to 1100 mm.Finally,CCRobot-M-II successfully conducted an inspection of the main cable on a suspension bridge,marking the world's first successful deployment of a climbing robot for main cable inspection on a suspension bridge.展开更多
Micro aerial vehicles(MAVs)have flexibility and maneuverability,which can offer vast potential for applications in both civilian and military domains.Compared to Fixed-wing/Rotor-wing MAVs,Flapping Wing Micro Robots(F...Micro aerial vehicles(MAVs)have flexibility and maneuverability,which can offer vast potential for applications in both civilian and military domains.Compared to Fixed-wing/Rotor-wing MAVs,Flapping Wing Micro Robots(FWMRs)have garnered widespread attention among scientists due to their superior miniaturized aerodynamic theory,reduced noise,and enhanced resistance to disturbances in complex and diverse environments.Flying insects,it not only has remarkable flapping flight ability(wings),but also takeoff and landing habitat ability(legs).If the various functions of flying insects can be imitated,efficient biomimetic FWMRs can be produced.This paper provides a review of the flight kinematics,aerodynamics,and wing structural parameters of insects.Then,the traditional wings and folding wings of insect-inspired FWMRs were compared.The research progress in takeoff and landing of FWMRs was also summarized,and the future developments and challenges for insect-inspired FWMRs were discussed.展开更多
Large-scale flapping-wing flying robotic birds have huge application potential in outdoor tasks,such as military reconnaissance,environment exploring,disaster rescue and so on.In this paper,a multiple modes flight con...Large-scale flapping-wing flying robotic birds have huge application potential in outdoor tasks,such as military reconnaissance,environment exploring,disaster rescue and so on.In this paper,a multiple modes flight control method and system are proposed for a large-scale robotic bird which has 2.3 m wingspan and 650 g mass.Different from small flapping wing aerial vehicle,the mass of its wings cannot be neglected and the flapping frequency are much lower.Therefore,the influence of transient aerodynamics instead of only mean value are considered in attitude estimation and controller design.Moreover,flight attitude and trajectory are highly coupled,and the robot has only three actuators----one for wings flapping and two for tail adjustment,it is very difficult to simultaneously control the attitude and position.Hence,a fuzzy control strategy is addressed to determine the command of each actuator by considering the priority of attitude stabilization,trajectory tracking and the flight safety.Then,the on-board controller is designed based on FreeRTOS.It not only satisfies the strict restrictions on mass,size,power and space but also meets the autonomous,semi-autonomous and manual flight control requirements.Finally,the developed control system was integrated to the robotic prototype,HIT-phoenix.Flight experiments under different environment conditions such as sunny and windy weather were completed to verify the control method and system.展开更多
This article provides a comprehensive exploration of the current research landscape in the field of soft actuation technology applied to bio-inspired soft robots. In sharp contrast to their conventional rigid counterp...This article provides a comprehensive exploration of the current research landscape in the field of soft actuation technology applied to bio-inspired soft robots. In sharp contrast to their conventional rigid counterparts, bio-inspired soft robots are primarily constructed from flexible materials, conferring upon them remarkable adaptability and flexibility to execute a multitude of tasks in complex environments. However, the classification of their driving technology poses a significant challenge owing to the diverse array of employed driving mechanisms and materials. Here, we classify several common soft actuation methods from the perspectives of the sources of motion in bio-inspired soft robots and their bio-inspired objects, effectively filling the classification system of soft robots, especially bio-inspired soft robots. Then, we summarize the driving principles and structures of various common driving methods from the perspective of bionics, and discuss the latest developments in the field of soft robot actuation from the perspective of driving modalities and methodologies. We then discuss the application directions of bio-inspired soft robots and the latest developments in each direction. Finally, after an in-depth review of various soft bio-inspired robot driving technologies in recent years, we summarize the issues and challenges encountered in the advancement of soft robot actuation technology.展开更多
Flapping-wing flight, as the distinctive flight method retained by natural flying creatures, contains profound aerodynamic principles and brings great inspirations and encouragements to drone developers. Though some i...Flapping-wing flight, as the distinctive flight method retained by natural flying creatures, contains profound aerodynamic principles and brings great inspirations and encouragements to drone developers. Though some ingenious flapping-wing robots have been designed during the past two decades, development and application of autonomous flapping-wing robots are less successful and still require further research. Here, we report the development of a servo-driven bird-like flapping-wing robot named USTBird-I and its application in autonomous airdrop.Inspired by birds, a camber structure and a dihedral angle adjustment mechanism are introduced into the airfoil design and motion control of the wings, respectively. Computational fluid dynamics simulations and actual flight tests show that this bionic design can significantly improve the gliding performance of the robot, which is beneficial to the execution of the airdrop mission.Finally, a vision-based airdrop experiment has been successfully implemented on USTBird-I, which is the first demonstration of a bird-like flapping-wing robot conducting an outdoor airdrop mission.展开更多
Birds in nature exhibit excellent long-distance flight capabilities through formation flight,which could reduce energy consumption and improve flight efficiency.Inspired by the biological habits of birds,this paper pr...Birds in nature exhibit excellent long-distance flight capabilities through formation flight,which could reduce energy consumption and improve flight efficiency.Inspired by the biological habits of birds,this paper proposes an autonomous formation flight control method for Large-sized Flapping-Wing Flying Robots(LFWFRs),which can enhance their search range and flight efficiency.First,the kinematics model for LFWFRs is established.Then,an autonomous flight controller based on this model is designed,which has multiple flight control modes,including attitude stabilization,course keeping,hovering,and so on.Second,a formation flight control method is proposed based on the leader–follower strategy and periodic characteristics of flapping-wing flight.The up and down fluctuation of the fuselage of each LFWFR during wing flapping is considered in the control algorithm to keep the relative distance,which overcomes the trajectory divergence caused by sensor delay and fuselage fluctuation.Third,typical formation flight modes are realized,including straight formation,circular formation,and switching formation.Finally,the outdoor formation flight experiment is carried out,and the proposed autonomous formation flight control method is verified in real environment.展开更多
Compared with conventional rigid-link robots,bionic continuum robots(CRs)show great potential in unstructured environments because of their adaptivity and continuous deformation ability.However,designing a CR to achie...Compared with conventional rigid-link robots,bionic continuum robots(CRs)show great potential in unstructured environments because of their adaptivity and continuous deformation ability.However,designing a CR to achieve miniaturization,variable length and compliant driving force remains a challenge.Here,inspired by the earthworm in nature,we report a length-variable bionic CR with millimeter-scale diameter and compliant driving force.The CR consists of two main components:the robot body and soft drives.The robot body is only 6 mm in diameter,and is composed of a backbone and transmission devices.The backbone is divided into three segments,and each segment is capable of adjusting its length and bending like the earthworm.The maximum length variation of the backbone can reach an astonishing 70 mm with a backbone’s initial length of 150 mm,and the maximum bending angle of each segment can reach 120 degrees.In addition,we develop soft drives using pneumatic soft actuators(PSAs)as a replacement for the rigid motors typically used in conventional CRs.These soft drives control the motions of the transmission devices,enabling length variation and bending of the backbone.By utilizing these soft drives,we ensure that the robot body has a compliant driving force,which addresses users’concerns about human safety during interactions.In practical applications,we prove that this CR can perform delicate manipulations by successfully completing writing tasks.Additionally,we show its application value for detections and medical treatments by entering the narrow tube and the oral.展开更多
In complex water environments,search tasks often involve multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles(AUVs),and a single centralized control cannot handle the complexity and computational burden of large-scale systems.Targ...In complex water environments,search tasks often involve multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles(AUVs),and a single centralized control cannot handle the complexity and computational burden of large-scale systems.Target search in complex water environments has always been a major challenge in the field of underwater robots.To address this problem,this paper proposes a multi-biomimetic robot fish collaborative target search method based on Distributed Model Predictive Control(DMPC).First,we established a bionic robot fish kinematic model and a multi-biomimetic robot fish communication model;second,this paper proposed a distributed model predictive control algorithm based on the distributed search theory framework,so that the bionic robot fish can dynamically adjust their search path according to each other’s position information and search status,avoid repeated coverage or missing areas,and thus improve the search efficiency;third,we conducted simulation experiments based on DMPC,and the results showed that the proposed method has a target search success rate of more than 90%in static targets,dynamic targets,and obstacle environments.Finally,we compared this method with Centralized Model Predictive Control(CMPC)and Random Walk(RW)algorithms.The DMPC approach demonstrates significant advantages,achieving a remarkable target search success rate of 94.17%.These findings comprehensively validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed methodology.It can be seen that DMPC can effectively dispatch multiple bionic robot fish to work together to achieve efficient search of vast waters.It can significantly improve the flexibility,scalability,robustness and cooperation efficiency of the system and has broad application prospects.展开更多
In this paper,inspired by the running motion gait of a cheetah,an H-shaped bionic piezoelectric robot(H-BPR)based on the standing wave principle is proposed and designed.The piezoelectric robot realizes linear motion,...In this paper,inspired by the running motion gait of a cheetah,an H-shaped bionic piezoelectric robot(H-BPR)based on the standing wave principle is proposed and designed.The piezoelectric robot realizes linear motion,turning motion,and turning motion with different radi by the voltage differential driving method.A prototype with a weight of 38 g and dimensions of 150×80×31 mm^(3) was fabricated.Firstly,the dynamics and kinematics of the piezoelectric robot were analyzed to obtain the trajectory of a point at the end of the piezoelectric robot leg.The motion principle of the piezo-electric robot was analyzed,and then the piezoelectric robot's modal analysis and harmonic response analysis were carried out using finite element analysis software.Finally,an experimental setup was built to verify the effectiveness and high efficiency of the robot's motion,and the effects of frequency,voltage,load,and height of the driving leg on the robot's motion performance were discussed.The performance test results show that the piezoelectric robot has a maximum veloc-ity of 66.79 mm/s at an excitation voltage of 320 V and a load capacity of 55 g.In addition,the H-BPR with unequal drive legs has better climbing performance,and the obtained conclusions are informative for selecting leg heights for piezoelectric robots.展开更多
Wall-climbing robots can stably ascend vertical walls and even ceilings,making them suitable for specialized tasks in high-risk,confined,and harsh conditions.Therefore,they have excellent application prospects and sub...Wall-climbing robots can stably ascend vertical walls and even ceilings,making them suitable for specialized tasks in high-risk,confined,and harsh conditions.Therefore,they have excellent application prospects and substantial market demand.However,several challenges remain,including limited load-carrying capacity,short operational duration,a high risk of detachment,and the lack of standardized physical and control interfaces for carrying auxiliary equipment to complete missions.This study analyzes the macro and micro structures and movement mechanisms of typical organisms in terms of negative pressure adsorption,hook-and-claw adhesion,dry adhesion,and wet adhesion.The exploration of biological wall-climbing mechanisms is integrated with the adhesion techniques used in practical wall-climbing robots.Additionally,the mechanisms,properties,and typical wall-climbing robots associated with adhesion technologies were investigated,including negative pressure adsorption,hook-and-claw adhesion,bionic dry adhesion,bionic wet adhesion,electrostatic adhesion,and magnetic adhesion.Furthermore,the typical gaits of quadruped and hexapod robots are analyzed,and bionic control techniques such as central pattern generators,neural networks,and compliant control are applied.Finally,the future development trends of wall-climbing robots will be examined from multiple perspectives,including the diversification of bionic mechanisms,the advancement of mechanical structure intelligence,and the implementation of intelligent adaptive control.Moreover,this paper establishes a solid foundation for the innovative design of bionic wall-climbing robots and provides valuable guidance for future advancements.展开更多
The body of quadruped robot is generally developed with the rigid structure. The mobility of quadruped robot depcnds on the mechanical properties of the body mechanism, It is difficult for quadruped robot with rigid s...The body of quadruped robot is generally developed with the rigid structure. The mobility of quadruped robot depcnds on the mechanical properties of the body mechanism, It is difficult for quadruped robot with rigid structure to achieve better mobility walking or running in the unstructured environment. A kind of bionic flexible body mechanism for quadruped robot is proposed, which is composed of one bionic spine and four pneumatic artificial muscles（PAMs）. This kind of body imitates the four-legged creatures＇ kinematical structure and physical properties, which has the characteristic of changeable stiff＇hess, lightweight, flexible and better bionics. The kinematics of body bending is derived, and the coordinated movement between the flexible body and legs is analyzed. The relationship between the body bending angle and the PAM length is obtained. The dynamics of the body bending is derived by the floating coordinate method and Lagrangian method, and the driving tbrce of PAM is determined. The experiment of body bending is conductcd, and the dynamic bending characteristic of bionic flexible body is evaluated. Experimental results show that the bending angle of the bionic flexible body can reach 18. An innovation body mechanism for quadruped robot is proposed, which has the characteristic of flexibility and achieve bending by changing gas pressure of PAMs. The coordinated movement of the body and legs can achieve spinning gait in order to improve the mobility of quadruped robot.展开更多
A flexible-rigid hopping mechanism which is inspired by the locust jumping was proposed, and its kinematic characteris- tics were analyzed. A series of experiments were conducted to observe locust morphology and jumpi...A flexible-rigid hopping mechanism which is inspired by the locust jumping was proposed, and its kinematic characteris- tics were analyzed. A series of experiments were conducted to observe locust morphology and jumping process. According to classic mechanics, the jumping process analysis was conducted to build the relationship of the locust jumping parameters. The take-offphase was divided into four stages in detail. Based on the biological observation and kinematics analysis, a mechanical model was proposed to simulate locust jumping. The forces of the flexible-rigid hopping mechanism at each stage were ana- lyzed. The kinematic analysis using pseudo-rigid-body model was described by D-H method. It is confirmed that the proposed bionic mechanism has the similar performance as the locust hind leg in hopping. Moreover, the jumping angle which decides the jumping process was discussed, and its relation with other parameters was established. A calculation case analysis corroborated the method. The results of this paper show that the proposed bionic mechanism which is inspired by the locust hind limb has an excellent kinematics performance, which can provide a foundation for design and motion planning of the hopping robot.展开更多
In this paper,a bionic mantis shrimp amphibious soft robot based on a dielectric elastomer is proposed to realize highly adaptive underwater multimodal motion.Under the action of an independent actuator,it is not only...In this paper,a bionic mantis shrimp amphibious soft robot based on a dielectric elastomer is proposed to realize highly adaptive underwater multimodal motion.Under the action of an independent actuator,it is not only able to complete forward/backwards motion on land but also has the ability of cyclically controllable transition motion from land to water surface,from water surface to water bottom and from water bottom to land.The fastest speed of the soft robot on land is 170 mm/s,and it can crawl while carrying up to 4.6 times its own weight.The maximum speeds on the water surface and the water bottom are 30 mm/s and 14.4 mm/s,respectively.Furthermore,the soft robot can climb from the water bottom with a 9°slope transition to land.Compared with other similar soft robots,this soft robot has outstanding advantages,such as agile speed,large load-carrying capacity,strong body flexibility,multiple motion modes and strong underwater adaptability.Finally,nonlinear motion models of land crawling and water swimming are proposed to improve the environmental adaptability under multiple modalities,and the correctness of the theoretical model is verified by experiments.展开更多
This paper proposed a novel multi-motion wheel-leg-separated quadruped robot that can adapt to both the structured and unstructured grounds.The models of the positive/inverse position,velocity,acceleration,and workspa...This paper proposed a novel multi-motion wheel-leg-separated quadruped robot that can adapt to both the structured and unstructured grounds.The models of the positive/inverse position,velocity,acceleration,and workspace of the single leg mechanism in the quadruped robot were established.A single leg complex dynamic model of the quadruped robot is derived,considering the mass and inertial force of all the components in the mechanical leg.Combined with the human jumping law in situ,the jumping trajectory of the single leg was planned.To reduce landing impact,a soft landing strategy based on motion planning was proposed by simulating human knee bending and buffering action.The change law of the kinetic energy and momentum of all the links in the single leg mechanism during the jump process was studied,and the influencing factors of jump height were analyzed to realize the height control of the jump.Single leg jumping dynamics model was established,and a dynamic control strategy for trajectory tracking with foot force compensation was proposed.In Adams and MATLAB/Simulink software,the jump simulation of single leg mechanism was carried out.The prototype of quadruped robot was developed,and the jumping experiment of the single leg mechanism was tested.The robot's single leg bionic jumping and soft landing control are realized.展开更多
Galloping cheetahs,climbing mountain goats,and load hauling horses all show desirable locomotion capability,which motivates the development of quadruped robots.Among various quadruped robots,hydraulically driven quadr...Galloping cheetahs,climbing mountain goats,and load hauling horses all show desirable locomotion capability,which motivates the development of quadruped robots.Among various quadruped robots,hydraulically driven quadruped robots show great potential in unstructured environments due to their discrete landing positions and large payloads.As the most critical movement unit of a quadruped robot,the limb leg unit(LLU)directly affects movement speed and reliability,and requires a compact and lightweight design.Inspired by the dexterous skeleton–muscle systems of cheetahs and humans,this paper proposes a highly integrated bionic actuator system for a better dynamic performance of an LLU.We propose that a cylinder barrel with multiple element interfaces and internal smooth channels is realized using metal additive manufacturing,and hybrid lattice structures are introduced into the lightweight design of the piston rod.In addition,additive manufacturing and topology optimization are incorporated to reduce the redundant material of the structural parts of the LLU.The mechanical properties of the actuator system are verified by numerical simulation and experiments,and the power density of the actuators is far greater than that of cheetah muscle.The mass of the optimized LLU is reduced by 24.5%,and the optimized LLU shows better response time performance when given a step signal,and presents a good trajectory tracking ability with the increase in motion frequency.展开更多
基金Nguyen Tat Thanh University,Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam for supporting this study。
文摘Wing design is a critical factor in the aerodynamic performance of flapping-wing(FW)robots.Inspired by the natural wing structures of insects,bats,and birds,we explored how bio-mimetic wing vein morphologies,combined with a bio-inspired double wing clap-and-fling mechanism,affect thrust generation.This study focused on increasing vertical force and payload capacity.Through systematic experimentation with various vein configurations and structural designs,we developed innovative wings optimized for thrust production.Comprehensive tests were conducted to measure aerodynamic forces,power consumption,and wing kinematics across a range of flapping frequencies.Additionally,wings with different aspect ratios,a key factor in wing design,were fabricated and extensively evaluated.The study also examined the role of bio-inspired vein layouts on wing flexibility,a critical component in improving flight efficiency.Our findings demonstrate that the newly developed wing design led to a 20%increase in thrust,achieving up to 30 g-force(gf).This research sheds light on the clap-and-fling effect and establishes a promising framework for bio-inspired wing design,offering significant improvements in both performance and payload capacity for FW robots.
基金Shenzhen Science and Technology Program(Grant No.20220817171811004)(Grant No.RCBS20231211090816033)+4 种基金the Major Key Project of PCL,China under Grant PCL2025A13Longgang District,Shenzhen's"Ten-Action Plan"for Supporting Innovation Projects(Grant No.LGKCSDPT2024002,LGKCSDPT2024003,LGKCSDPT2024004)the"Zhiguo"Action of Guangxi Science and Technology Program(Grant No.ZG2503980003)Guangdong S&T Program under(Grant No.2025B0909040003)Guangdong Provincial Leading Talent Program(Grant No.2024TX08Z319).
文摘The main cable is the primary load-bearing component of a suspension bridge,continuously exposed to harsh environmental conditions,such as wind and rain,throughout the year.These adverse conditions contribute to varying degrees of degradation and damage to the main cable,necessitating regular inspections to prevent catastrophic failures.Traditional manual inspection methods not only suffer from low efficiency but also pose significant safety risks to personnel.To address these challenges and ensure the safe and effective inspection of suspension bridge main cables,this study introduces a novel cooperative climbing robot,designated as Main Cable Robot Version II(CCRobot-M-II),inspired by the locomotion of the inchworm.The robot employs an alternating opening and closing mechanism of four gripper sets,mimicking the inchworm's movement to achieve efficient crawling along the suspension bridge handrails.This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the structural design,key components,and motion mechanisms of CCRobot-M-II.A detailed force analysis of the robot's crawling process is also presented,followed by the design of the control system and the development of an efficient motion control algorithm.Laboratory experiments demonstrate that the robot achieves a positional error of 00.64%during crawling,with a maximum average crawling speed of 7.6 m/min.Furthermore,the biomimetic design enables the robot to overcome obstacles up to 30 mm in height and possess the capability to handle suspension bridge cables with spans ranging from 740 to 1100 mm.Finally,CCRobot-M-II successfully conducted an inspection of the main cable on a suspension bridge,marking the world's first successful deployment of a climbing robot for main cable inspection on a suspension bridge.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(grant numbers 52305321 and 62273246)The Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(BK20230496)+3 种基金China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Funded Project(2023M732536 and 2024T170630)Jiangsu Province Excellence Postdoctoral Program(2023ZB218)The National Key R&D Program of China(2022YFB4702202)The Jiangsu Provincial Key Technology R&D Program(BE2021009-02).
文摘Micro aerial vehicles(MAVs)have flexibility and maneuverability,which can offer vast potential for applications in both civilian and military domains.Compared to Fixed-wing/Rotor-wing MAVs,Flapping Wing Micro Robots(FWMRs)have garnered widespread attention among scientists due to their superior miniaturized aerodynamic theory,reduced noise,and enhanced resistance to disturbances in complex and diverse environments.Flying insects,it not only has remarkable flapping flight ability(wings),but also takeoff and landing habitat ability(legs).If the various functions of flying insects can be imitated,efficient biomimetic FWMRs can be produced.This paper provides a review of the flight kinematics,aerodynamics,and wing structural parameters of insects.Then,the traditional wings and folding wings of insect-inspired FWMRs were compared.The research progress in takeoff and landing of FWMRs was also summarized,and the future developments and challenges for insect-inspired FWMRs were discussed.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.U1613227,61803125)Guangdong Special Support Program of China(No.2017TX04X0071)the Basic Research Program of Shenzhen of China(Nos.JCYJ20180507183610564,JCYJ20190806144416980)。
文摘Large-scale flapping-wing flying robotic birds have huge application potential in outdoor tasks,such as military reconnaissance,environment exploring,disaster rescue and so on.In this paper,a multiple modes flight control method and system are proposed for a large-scale robotic bird which has 2.3 m wingspan and 650 g mass.Different from small flapping wing aerial vehicle,the mass of its wings cannot be neglected and the flapping frequency are much lower.Therefore,the influence of transient aerodynamics instead of only mean value are considered in attitude estimation and controller design.Moreover,flight attitude and trajectory are highly coupled,and the robot has only three actuators----one for wings flapping and two for tail adjustment,it is very difficult to simultaneously control the attitude and position.Hence,a fuzzy control strategy is addressed to determine the command of each actuator by considering the priority of attitude stabilization,trajectory tracking and the flight safety.Then,the on-board controller is designed based on FreeRTOS.It not only satisfies the strict restrictions on mass,size,power and space but also meets the autonomous,semi-autonomous and manual flight control requirements.Finally,the developed control system was integrated to the robotic prototype,HIT-phoenix.Flight experiments under different environment conditions such as sunny and windy weather were completed to verify the control method and system.
基金Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(No.2024JBMC011)Aeronautical Science Foundation of China(No.2024Z0560M5001).
文摘This article provides a comprehensive exploration of the current research landscape in the field of soft actuation technology applied to bio-inspired soft robots. In sharp contrast to their conventional rigid counterparts, bio-inspired soft robots are primarily constructed from flexible materials, conferring upon them remarkable adaptability and flexibility to execute a multitude of tasks in complex environments. However, the classification of their driving technology poses a significant challenge owing to the diverse array of employed driving mechanisms and materials. Here, we classify several common soft actuation methods from the perspectives of the sources of motion in bio-inspired soft robots and their bio-inspired objects, effectively filling the classification system of soft robots, especially bio-inspired soft robots. Then, we summarize the driving principles and structures of various common driving methods from the perspective of bionics, and discuss the latest developments in the field of soft robot actuation from the perspective of driving modalities and methodologies. We then discuss the application directions of bio-inspired soft robots and the latest developments in each direction. Finally, after an in-depth review of various soft bio-inspired robot driving technologies in recent years, we summarize the issues and challenges encountered in the advancement of soft robot actuation technology.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(62225304,61933001,61921004,62173031)the Beijing Municipal Natural Science Foundation(JQ20026)+1 种基金the Beijing Top Discipline for Artificial Intelligent Science and Engineering,University of Science and Technology Beijing。
文摘Flapping-wing flight, as the distinctive flight method retained by natural flying creatures, contains profound aerodynamic principles and brings great inspirations and encouragements to drone developers. Though some ingenious flapping-wing robots have been designed during the past two decades, development and application of autonomous flapping-wing robots are less successful and still require further research. Here, we report the development of a servo-driven bird-like flapping-wing robot named USTBird-I and its application in autonomous airdrop.Inspired by birds, a camber structure and a dihedral angle adjustment mechanism are introduced into the airfoil design and motion control of the wings, respectively. Computational fluid dynamics simulations and actual flight tests show that this bionic design can significantly improve the gliding performance of the robot, which is beneficial to the execution of the airdrop mission.Finally, a vision-based airdrop experiment has been successfully implemented on USTBird-I, which is the first demonstration of a bird-like flapping-wing robot conducting an outdoor airdrop mission.
基金This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.62233001)Shenzhen excellent scientific and technological innovation talent training project(Grant No.RCJC20200714114436040)the Basic Research Program of Shenzhen(Grant No.JCYJ20190806142816524).
文摘Birds in nature exhibit excellent long-distance flight capabilities through formation flight,which could reduce energy consumption and improve flight efficiency.Inspired by the biological habits of birds,this paper proposes an autonomous formation flight control method for Large-sized Flapping-Wing Flying Robots(LFWFRs),which can enhance their search range and flight efficiency.First,the kinematics model for LFWFRs is established.Then,an autonomous flight controller based on this model is designed,which has multiple flight control modes,including attitude stabilization,course keeping,hovering,and so on.Second,a formation flight control method is proposed based on the leader–follower strategy and periodic characteristics of flapping-wing flight.The up and down fluctuation of the fuselage of each LFWFR during wing flapping is considered in the control algorithm to keep the relative distance,which overcomes the trajectory divergence caused by sensor delay and fuselage fluctuation.Third,typical formation flight modes are realized,including straight formation,circular formation,and switching formation.Finally,the outdoor formation flight experiment is carried out,and the proposed autonomous formation flight control method is verified in real environment.
基金supported by the Young Scientists Fund of National Natural Science Foundation of China(62203408)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2023M733307),the Hubei Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(2015CFA010)+1 种基金the 111 Project(B17040)the“CUG Scholar”Scientific Research Funds at China University of Geosciences(Wuhan)(2022088)。
文摘Compared with conventional rigid-link robots,bionic continuum robots(CRs)show great potential in unstructured environments because of their adaptivity and continuous deformation ability.However,designing a CR to achieve miniaturization,variable length and compliant driving force remains a challenge.Here,inspired by the earthworm in nature,we report a length-variable bionic CR with millimeter-scale diameter and compliant driving force.The CR consists of two main components:the robot body and soft drives.The robot body is only 6 mm in diameter,and is composed of a backbone and transmission devices.The backbone is divided into three segments,and each segment is capable of adjusting its length and bending like the earthworm.The maximum length variation of the backbone can reach an astonishing 70 mm with a backbone’s initial length of 150 mm,and the maximum bending angle of each segment can reach 120 degrees.In addition,we develop soft drives using pneumatic soft actuators(PSAs)as a replacement for the rigid motors typically used in conventional CRs.These soft drives control the motions of the transmission devices,enabling length variation and bending of the backbone.By utilizing these soft drives,we ensure that the robot body has a compliant driving force,which addresses users’concerns about human safety during interactions.In practical applications,we prove that this CR can perform delicate manipulations by successfully completing writing tasks.Additionally,we show its application value for detections and medical treatments by entering the narrow tube and the oral.
基金funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.62473236,62073196).
文摘In complex water environments,search tasks often involve multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles(AUVs),and a single centralized control cannot handle the complexity and computational burden of large-scale systems.Target search in complex water environments has always been a major challenge in the field of underwater robots.To address this problem,this paper proposes a multi-biomimetic robot fish collaborative target search method based on Distributed Model Predictive Control(DMPC).First,we established a bionic robot fish kinematic model and a multi-biomimetic robot fish communication model;second,this paper proposed a distributed model predictive control algorithm based on the distributed search theory framework,so that the bionic robot fish can dynamically adjust their search path according to each other’s position information and search status,avoid repeated coverage or missing areas,and thus improve the search efficiency;third,we conducted simulation experiments based on DMPC,and the results showed that the proposed method has a target search success rate of more than 90%in static targets,dynamic targets,and obstacle environments.Finally,we compared this method with Centralized Model Predictive Control(CMPC)and Random Walk(RW)algorithms.The DMPC approach demonstrates significant advantages,achieving a remarkable target search success rate of 94.17%.These findings comprehensively validate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed methodology.It can be seen that DMPC can effectively dispatch multiple bionic robot fish to work together to achieve efficient search of vast waters.It can significantly improve the flexibility,scalability,robustness and cooperation efficiency of the system and has broad application prospects.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.12372005)the Aeronautical Science Foundation of China(No.ASFC-2024Z070050001)the Natural Science Foundation of Liaoning Province(2024-MSBA-32).
文摘In this paper,inspired by the running motion gait of a cheetah,an H-shaped bionic piezoelectric robot(H-BPR)based on the standing wave principle is proposed and designed.The piezoelectric robot realizes linear motion,turning motion,and turning motion with different radi by the voltage differential driving method.A prototype with a weight of 38 g and dimensions of 150×80×31 mm^(3) was fabricated.Firstly,the dynamics and kinematics of the piezoelectric robot were analyzed to obtain the trajectory of a point at the end of the piezoelectric robot leg.The motion principle of the piezo-electric robot was analyzed,and then the piezoelectric robot's modal analysis and harmonic response analysis were carried out using finite element analysis software.Finally,an experimental setup was built to verify the effectiveness and high efficiency of the robot's motion,and the effects of frequency,voltage,load,and height of the driving leg on the robot's motion performance were discussed.The performance test results show that the piezoelectric robot has a maximum veloc-ity of 66.79 mm/s at an excitation voltage of 320 V and a load capacity of 55 g.In addition,the H-BPR with unequal drive legs has better climbing performance,and the obtained conclusions are informative for selecting leg heights for piezoelectric robots.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.52405317)the Special Funds for Science and Technology Programs in Jiangsu Province(BZ2024021)+3 种基金the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province(BK20241407)the Talent Startup Funding of Chaohu University(KYQD-2023035)the Natural Science Research Projects of Chaohu University(XLZ-202205,XLZ202301)the Horizontal Projects of School-Enterprise Cooperation(No.hxkt20230267).
文摘Wall-climbing robots can stably ascend vertical walls and even ceilings,making them suitable for specialized tasks in high-risk,confined,and harsh conditions.Therefore,they have excellent application prospects and substantial market demand.However,several challenges remain,including limited load-carrying capacity,short operational duration,a high risk of detachment,and the lack of standardized physical and control interfaces for carrying auxiliary equipment to complete missions.This study analyzes the macro and micro structures and movement mechanisms of typical organisms in terms of negative pressure adsorption,hook-and-claw adhesion,dry adhesion,and wet adhesion.The exploration of biological wall-climbing mechanisms is integrated with the adhesion techniques used in practical wall-climbing robots.Additionally,the mechanisms,properties,and typical wall-climbing robots associated with adhesion technologies were investigated,including negative pressure adsorption,hook-and-claw adhesion,bionic dry adhesion,bionic wet adhesion,electrostatic adhesion,and magnetic adhesion.Furthermore,the typical gaits of quadruped and hexapod robots are analyzed,and bionic control techniques such as central pattern generators,neural networks,and compliant control are applied.Finally,the future development trends of wall-climbing robots will be examined from multiple perspectives,including the diversification of bionic mechanisms,the advancement of mechanical structure intelligence,and the implementation of intelligent adaptive control.Moreover,this paper establishes a solid foundation for the innovative design of bionic wall-climbing robots and provides valuable guidance for future advancements.
基金Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51375289)Shanghai Municipal Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.13ZR1415500)Innovation Fund of Shanghai Education Commission(Grant No.13YZ020)
文摘The body of quadruped robot is generally developed with the rigid structure. The mobility of quadruped robot depcnds on the mechanical properties of the body mechanism, It is difficult for quadruped robot with rigid structure to achieve better mobility walking or running in the unstructured environment. A kind of bionic flexible body mechanism for quadruped robot is proposed, which is composed of one bionic spine and four pneumatic artificial muscles（PAMs）. This kind of body imitates the four-legged creatures＇ kinematical structure and physical properties, which has the characteristic of changeable stiff＇hess, lightweight, flexible and better bionics. The kinematics of body bending is derived, and the coordinated movement between the flexible body and legs is analyzed. The relationship between the body bending angle and the PAM length is obtained. The dynamics of the body bending is derived by the floating coordinate method and Lagrangian method, and the driving tbrce of PAM is determined. The experiment of body bending is conductcd, and the dynamic bending characteristic of bionic flexible body is evaluated. Experimental results show that the bending angle of the bionic flexible body can reach 18. An innovation body mechanism for quadruped robot is proposed, which has the characteristic of flexibility and achieve bending by changing gas pressure of PAMs. The coordinated movement of the body and legs can achieve spinning gait in order to improve the mobility of quadruped robot.
基金This work is financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant No. 51075014）.
文摘A flexible-rigid hopping mechanism which is inspired by the locust jumping was proposed, and its kinematic characteris- tics were analyzed. A series of experiments were conducted to observe locust morphology and jumping process. According to classic mechanics, the jumping process analysis was conducted to build the relationship of the locust jumping parameters. The take-offphase was divided into four stages in detail. Based on the biological observation and kinematics analysis, a mechanical model was proposed to simulate locust jumping. The forces of the flexible-rigid hopping mechanism at each stage were ana- lyzed. The kinematic analysis using pseudo-rigid-body model was described by D-H method. It is confirmed that the proposed bionic mechanism has the similar performance as the locust hind leg in hopping. Moreover, the jumping angle which decides the jumping process was discussed, and its relation with other parameters was established. A calculation case analysis corroborated the method. The results of this paper show that the proposed bionic mechanism which is inspired by the locust hind limb has an excellent kinematics performance, which can provide a foundation for design and motion planning of the hopping robot.
基金the National Natural Science Foundation of China,Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province with Grant No.ZR2019MEE019Fundamental Research Funds for the Central University with Grant No.2019ZRJC006.
文摘In this paper,a bionic mantis shrimp amphibious soft robot based on a dielectric elastomer is proposed to realize highly adaptive underwater multimodal motion.Under the action of an independent actuator,it is not only able to complete forward/backwards motion on land but also has the ability of cyclically controllable transition motion from land to water surface,from water surface to water bottom and from water bottom to land.The fastest speed of the soft robot on land is 170 mm/s,and it can crawl while carrying up to 4.6 times its own weight.The maximum speeds on the water surface and the water bottom are 30 mm/s and 14.4 mm/s,respectively.Furthermore,the soft robot can climb from the water bottom with a 9°slope transition to land.Compared with other similar soft robots,this soft robot has outstanding advantages,such as agile speed,large load-carrying capacity,strong body flexibility,multiple motion modes and strong underwater adaptability.Finally,nonlinear motion models of land crawling and water swimming are proposed to improve the environmental adaptability under multiple modalities,and the correctness of the theoretical model is verified by experiments.
基金This work was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51905367)the Foundation of Applied Basic Research General Youth Program of Shanxi(Grant No.201901D211011)the Scientific and Technological Innovation Programs of Higher Education Institutions of Shanxi(Grant No.2019L0176).
文摘This paper proposed a novel multi-motion wheel-leg-separated quadruped robot that can adapt to both the structured and unstructured grounds.The models of the positive/inverse position,velocity,acceleration,and workspace of the single leg mechanism in the quadruped robot were established.A single leg complex dynamic model of the quadruped robot is derived,considering the mass and inertial force of all the components in the mechanical leg.Combined with the human jumping law in situ,the jumping trajectory of the single leg was planned.To reduce landing impact,a soft landing strategy based on motion planning was proposed by simulating human knee bending and buffering action.The change law of the kinetic energy and momentum of all the links in the single leg mechanism during the jump process was studied,and the influencing factors of jump height were analyzed to realize the height control of the jump.Single leg jumping dynamics model was established,and a dynamic control strategy for trajectory tracking with foot force compensation was proposed.In Adams and MATLAB/Simulink software,the jump simulation of single leg mechanism was carried out.The prototype of quadruped robot was developed,and the jumping experiment of the single leg mechanism was tested.The robot's single leg bionic jumping and soft landing control are realized.
基金The work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.U21A20124 and 52205059)the Key Research and Development Program of Zhejiang Province(No.2022C01039)。
文摘Galloping cheetahs,climbing mountain goats,and load hauling horses all show desirable locomotion capability,which motivates the development of quadruped robots.Among various quadruped robots,hydraulically driven quadruped robots show great potential in unstructured environments due to their discrete landing positions and large payloads.As the most critical movement unit of a quadruped robot,the limb leg unit(LLU)directly affects movement speed and reliability,and requires a compact and lightweight design.Inspired by the dexterous skeleton–muscle systems of cheetahs and humans,this paper proposes a highly integrated bionic actuator system for a better dynamic performance of an LLU.We propose that a cylinder barrel with multiple element interfaces and internal smooth channels is realized using metal additive manufacturing,and hybrid lattice structures are introduced into the lightweight design of the piston rod.In addition,additive manufacturing and topology optimization are incorporated to reduce the redundant material of the structural parts of the LLU.The mechanical properties of the actuator system are verified by numerical simulation and experiments,and the power density of the actuators is far greater than that of cheetah muscle.The mass of the optimized LLU is reduced by 24.5%,and the optimized LLU shows better response time performance when given a step signal,and presents a good trajectory tracking ability with the increase in motion frequency.
