Most quadruped reptiles, such as lizards, salamanders and crocodiles, swing their waists while climbing on horizontal or vertical surfaces. Accompanied by body movement, the centroid trajectory also becomes more of a zigzag path rather than a straight line. Inspired by gecko’s gait and posture on a vertical surface, a gecko inspired model with one pendular waist and four active axil legs, which is called GPL model, is proposed. Relationship between the waist position, dynamic gait, and driving forces on supporting feet is analyzed. As for waist trajectory planning, a singular line between the supporting feet is found and its effects on driving forces are discussed. Based on the GPL model, it is found that a sinusoidal waist trajectory, rather than a straight line, makes the driving forces on the supporting legs smaller. Also, a waist close to the pygal can reduce the driving forces compared to the one near middle vertebration, which is in accord with gecko’s body bending in the process of climbing. The principles of con?guration design and gait planning are proposed based on theoretical analyses. Finally, a bio-inspired robot DracoBot is developed and both of the driving force measurements and climbing experiments reinforce theoretical analysis and the rationality of gecko’s dynamic gait.

High-speed running is one of the most important topics in the field of legged robots which requires strict constraints on structural design and control. To solve the problems of high acceleration, high energy consumption, high pace frequency and ground impact during high-speed movement, this paper presents a parallel actuated pantograph leg with an approximately decoupled configuration. The articulated leg features in light weight, high load capacity, high mechanical efficiency and structural stability. The similarity features of force and position between the control point and the foot are analyzed. The key design parameters, K1 and K2, which concern the dynamic performances, are carefully optimized by comprehensive evaluation of the leg inertia and mass within the maximum foot trajectory. A control strategy that incorporates virtual Spring Loaded Inverted Pendulum (SLIP) model and active force is also proposed to test the design. The strategy can implement highly flexible impedance without mechanical springs, which substantially simplifies the design and satisfies the variable stiffness requirements during high-speed running. The rationality of the structure and the effectiveness of the control law are validated by simulation and experiments.

This paper presents a control approach for bounding gait of quadruped robots by applying the concept of Virtual Constraints (VCs). A VC is a relative motion relation between two related joints imposed to the robots in terms of a specified gait, which can drive the robot to run with desired gait. To determine VCs for highly dynamic bounding gait, the limit cycle motions of the passive dynamic model of bounding gait are analyzed. The leg length and hip/shoulder angle trajectories corresponding to the limit cycles are parameterized by leg angles using 4 th-order polynomials. In order to track the calculated periodic motions, the polynomials are imposed on the robot as virtual motion constraints by a high-level state machine controller. A bounding speed feedback strategy is introduced to stabilize the robot running speed and enhance the stability. The control approach was applied to a newly designed lightweight bioinspired quadruped robot, AgiDog. The experimental results demonstrate that the robot can bound at a frequency up to 5 Hz and bound at a maximum speed of 1.2 m•s−1 in sagittal plane with a Froude number approximating to 1.

This paper deals with a design approach of a gait training machine based on a quantitative gait analysis. The proposed training machine is composed of a body weight support device and a cable-driven parallel robot. This paper is focused on the cable-driven robot, which controls the pose of the lower limb through an orthosis placed on the patient’s leg. The cable robot reproduces a normal gait movement through the motion of the orthosis. A motion capture system is used to perform the quantitative analysis of a normal gait, which will be used as an input to the inverse dynamic model of the cable robot. By means of an optimization algorithm, the optimal design parameters, which minimize the tensions in the cables, are determined. Two constraints are considered, i.e., a non-negative tension in the cables at all times, and a free cable/end-effector collision. Once the optimal solution is computed, a power analysis is carried out in order to size the robot actuators. The proposed approach can be easily extended for the design study of a similar type of cable robots.

Magnetic microswimmers are useful for navigating and performing tasks at small scales. To demonstrate effective control over such microswimmers, we implemented feedback control of the three-bead achiral microswimmers in both simulation and experiment. The achiral microswimmers with the ability to swim in bulk fluid are controlled wirelessly using magnetic fields generated from electromagnetic coils. The achirality of the microswimmers introduces unknown handedness resulting in uncertainty in swimming direction. We use a combination of rotating and static magnetic fields generated from an approximate Helmholtz coil system to overcome such uncertainty. There are also movement uncertainties due to environmental factors such as unsteady flow conditions. A kinematic model based feedback controller was created based on data fitting of experimental data. However, the controller was unable to yield satisfactory performance due to uncertainties from environmental factors; i.e., the time to reach target pose under adverse flow condition is too long. Following the implementation of an integral controller to control the microswimmers’ swimming velocity, the microswimmers were able to reach the target in roughly half the time. Through simulation and experiments, we show that the feedback control law can move an achiral microswimmer from any initial conditions to a target pose.

Water beetles are proficient drag-powered swimmers, with oar-like legs. Inspired by this mechanism, here we propose a miniature robot, with mobility provided by a pair of legs with swimming appendages. The robot has optimized linkage structure to maximize the stroke angle, which is actuated by a single DC motor with a series of gears and a spring. A simplified swimming appendage model is proposed to calculate the deflection due to the applied drag force, and is compared with simulated data using COMSOL Multiphysics. Also, the swimming appendages are optimized by considering their locations on the legs using two fitness functions, and six different configurations are selected. We investigate the performance of the robot with various types of appendage using a high-speed camera, and motion capture cameras. The robot with the proposed configuration exhibits fast and efficient movement compared with other robots. In addition, the locomotion of the robot is analyzed by considering its dynamics, and compared with that of a water boatman (Corixidae).

An electrically actuated lower extremity exoskeleton is developed, in which only the knee joint is actuated actively while other joints linked by elastic elements are actuated passively. This paper describes the critical design criteria and presents the process of design and calculation of the actuation system. A flexible physical Human-Robot-Interaction (pHRI) measurement device is designed and applied to detect the human movement, which comprises two force sensors and two gasbags attached to the inner surface of the connection cuff. An online adaptive pHRI minimization control strategy is proposed and implemented to drive the robotic exoskeleton system to follow the motion trajectory of human limb. The measured pHRI information is fused by the Variance Weighted Average (VWA) method. The Mean Square Values (MSV) of pHRI and control torque are utilized to evaluate the performance of the exoskeleton. To improve the comfort level and reduce energy consumption, the gravity compensation is taken into consideration when the control law is designed. Finally, practical experiments are performed on healthy users. Experimental results show that the proposed system can assist people to walk and the outlined control strategy is valid and effective.

The ability to track upper extremity movement during activity of daily living has the potential to facilitate the recovery of individuals with neurological or physical injuries. Hence, the use of Surface Electromyography (sEMG) signals to predict upper extremity movement is an area of interest in the research community. A less established technique, Force Myography (FMG), which uses force sensors to detect forearm muscle contraction patterns, is also able to detect some movements of the arm. This paper investigates the comparative performance of sEMG and FMG when predicting wrist, forearm and elbow positions using signals extracted from the forearm only. Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) classifiers were used to evaluate the prediction performance of both FMG and sEMG data. Ten healthy volunteers participated in this study. Under a cross validation across a repetition evaluation scheme, the SVM classifier obtained averaged accuracies of 84.3%, 82.4% and 71.0%, respectively, for predicting elbow, forearm and wrist positions using FMG; while sEMG yielded 75.4%, 83.4% and 92.4% accuracies for predicting the same respective positions. The accuracies obtained using SVM are slightly, but statistical significantly, higher than the ones obtained using LDA. However, the trends on the classification performances between FMG and sEMG are consistent. These results also indicate that the forearm FMG pattern is highly influenced by the change of elbow position, while the forearm sEMG is less subjected to the change. Overall, both forearm FMG and sEMG techniques provide abundant information that can be utilized for tracking the upper extremity movements.

An insect is an excellent biological object for the bio-inspirations to design and develop a MAV. This paper presents the simulation study of the flight characteristics of the deployable hindwings of beetle, Dorcustitanus platymelus. A 3D geometric model of the beetle was obtained using a 3D laser scanning technique. By studying its hindwings and flight mechanism, the mathematical model of the flapping motion of its hindwings was analyzed. Then a simulation analysis was carried out to analyze and evaluate the flapping flying aerodynamic characteristics. After that, the flow of blood in the hindwing veins was studied through simulation to determine the maximum pressure on a vein surface and the minimum blood flow in flight. A number of interesting bio-inspirations were obtained. It is believed that these findings can be used for the design and development of a MAV with similar flying capabilities to a natural beetle.

Lagrangian Coherent Structures (LCS) of tandem wings hovering in an inclined stroke plane is studied using ImmersedBoundary Method (IBM) by solving two dimensional (2D) incompressible Navier-Stokes equations. Coherent structures responsible for the force variation are visualized by calculating Finite Time Lyapunov Exponents (FTLE), and vorticity contours. LCS is effective in determining the vortex boundaries, flow separation, and the wing-vortex interactions accurately. The effects of inter-wing distance and phase difference on the force generation are studied. Results show that in-phase stroking generates maximum vertical force and counter-stroking generates the least vertical force. In-phase stroking generates a wake with swirl, and counter stroking generates a wake with predominant vertical velocity. Counter stroking aids the stability of the body in hovering. As the hindwing operates in the wake of the forewing, due to the reduction in the effective Angle of Attack (AoA), the hindwing generates lesser force than that of a single flapping wing.

Morphing capability is absolutely vital for aerospace vehicle to gain predominant functions of aerodynamics, mobility and flight control while piercing and re-entering the atmosphere. However, the challenge for existing aerospace vehicle remains to change its structure of nose cone agilely. This paper carries out a lot of observational experiments on honeybee’s abdomen which enhances the flight characteristics of honeybee by adjusting its biomorphic shape. A morphing structure is adopted from honeybee’s abdomen to improve both the axial scalability and bending properties of aerospace vehicle, which can lead to the super-maneuver flight performance. Combined with the methods of optimum design and topology, a new bionic morphing structure is proposed and applied to the design of morphing nose cone of aerospace vehicle. Furthermore, simulations are conducted to optimize the structural parameters of morphing nose cone. This concept design of biomimetic nose cone will provide an efficient way for aerospace vehicle to reduce the aerodynamic drag.

In research on small mobile robots and biomimetic robots, locomotion ability remains a major issue despite many advances in technology. However, evolution has led to there being many real animals capable of excellent locomotion. This paper presents a “parasitic robot system” whereby locomotion abilities of an animal are applied to a robot task. We chose a turtle as our first host animal and designed a parasitic robot that can perform “operant conditioning”. The parasitic robot, which is attached to the turtle, can induce object-tracking behavior of the turtle toward a Light Emitting Diode (LED) and positively reinforce the behavior through repeated stimulus-response interaction. After training sessions over five weeks, the robot could successfully control the direction of movement of the trained turtles in the waypoint navigation task. This hybrid animal-robot interaction system could provide an alternative solution to some of the limitations of conventional mobile robot systems in various fields, and could also act as a useful interaction system for the behavioral sciences.

Saccade and smooth pursuit are two important functions of human eye. In order to enable bionic eye to imitate the two functions, a control method that implements saccade and smooth pursuit based on the three-dimensional coordinates of target is proposed. An optimal observation position is defined for bionic eye based on three-dimensional coordinates. A kind of motion planning method with high accuracy is developed. The motion parameters of stepper motor consisting of angle acceleration and turning time are computed according to the position deviation, the target’s angular velocity and the stepper motor’s current angular velocity in motion planning. The motors are controlled with the motion parameters moving to given position with desired angular velocity in schedule time. The experimental results show that the bionic eye can move to optimal observation positions in 0.6 s from initial location and the accuracy of 3D coordinates is improved. In addition, the bionic eye can track a target within the error of less than 20 pixels based on three-dimensional coordinates. It is verified that saccade and smooth pursuit of bionic eye based on three-dimensional coordinates are feasible.

This study presents a piezoelectric rotary actuator which is equipped with a bionic driving mechanism imitating the centipede foot. The configuration and the operational principle are introduced in detail. The movement model is established to analyze the motion of the actuator. We establish a set of experimental system and corresponding experiments are conducted to evaluate the characteristics of the prototype. The results indicate that the prototype can be operated stably step by step and all steps have high reproducibility. The driving resolutions in forward and backward motions are 2.31 µrad and 1.83 µrad, respectively. The prototype can also output a relatively accurate circular motion and the maximum output torques in forward and backward directions are 76.4 Nmm and 70.6 Nmm, respectively. Under driving frequency of 1 Hz, the maximum angular velocities in forward and backward directions are 1029.3 µrad?s−1 and 1165 µrad?s−1 when the driving voltage is 120 V. Under driving voltage of 60 V, the angular velocities in forward and backward motions can be up to 235100 µrad?s−1 and 153650 µrad?s−1 when the driving frequency is 1024 Hz. We can obtain the satisfactory angular velocity by choosing a proper driving voltage and frequency for the actuator.

This work is conducted to investigate the hierarchical structure, mechanical behavior and fracture resistance of grass carp scales with different water contents (hydrated and dehydrated) and load conditions (uniaxial, biaxial and punch tests). The whole cross-section of scales is investigated, and it is found that the bony layer displays discontinuity and partly embeds in collagen layer. Four different locations are considered under both tensile and punch tests. The results of the uniaxial tensile test show a correlation between the failure mode and the distribution of surface morphology on scales. The biaxial test results show that there are minor differences in the tensile strength and the Young’ modulus compared with those of the uniaxial tests, but the ultimate strain is about 20% – 50%. Puncture tests are also conducted with different size of needles and different hardness silicon rubbers as substrate. The results show that the puncture force and deformation are dependent on the size of needle and the hardness of substrate. The failure pattern of scales is related to the water content. Radial cracks occur in the bony layer of hydrated scale, and the collagen fibers twist around the puncture site. However, the shear failure occurs in the bony layer of dehydrated scale.

Functionally Graded Concrete (FGC) is fabricated at the Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) by using a layer-by-layer technique with two different technological procedures: casting and dry spraying. Functional gradations are developed from two reference mixtures with diametrically opposed characteristics in terms of density, porosity, compression strength and elasticity modulus. In this study the first mixture consists of Normal Density Concrete (NDC), with density about 2160 kg•m−3 while the second mixture helps to obtain a very lightweight concrete, with density about 830 kg•m−3. The FGC specimens have layers with different alternating porosities and provide superior deformability capacity under bulk compression compared to NDC specimens. In addition, the FGC specimens experienced a graceful failure behaviour, absorbing high amounts of energy during extended compression paths. The porosity variation inside the layout of tested specimens is inspired by the internal structure of sea urchin spines of heterocentrotus mammillatus, a promising role model for energy absorption in biomimetic engineering.

Jute/epoxy hybrid laminated biocomposites were manufactured by using Illite clay particles at various content
(5 wt.% − 20 wt.%). The effects of hybridization on the morphology, structure, and mechanical properties were investigated. The properties of the biocomposites reinforced with jute fibers were mainly influenced by the interfacial adhesion between the jute fibers and the epoxy matrix. An alkali treatment was applied to improve the interfacial fiber-matrix adhesion and thus obtaining better mechanical properties. Besides the chemical treatment, epoxy hybridization using clay particles also had a strong effect on the overall properties of laminated biocomposites. The mechanical properties of the jute/epoxy biocomposites reinforced with Illite clay increased with clay content, up to an optimum value at 15 wt.%. The average technique and the laminates theory were performed to validate the coherence of the elastic moduli between the calculated and experimental values. A difference between the experimental and predicted data was observed, which was attributed to the simplifying assumptions made in both models. The laminates theory gave better overall predictions.

Vegetative Barriers (VB) have the potential to mitigate air pollutants emitted from area sources, including concentrated Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs). However, the mechanism has not been fully investigated, thereby limiting the application of vegetation systems in practice. An experimental method with repeatable and controllable conditions was developed to measure the change of Particulate Matter (PM) concentrations at upwind and downwind of VB in the wind tunnel and observe accumulated PM on leaves with Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), thus evaluating the ability of VB in mitigating PM emitted from AFOs. Branch-scale vegetation, clove (syzygium aromaticum) was selected because its leaves are one of the major factors affecting PM dispersion. The results show that the branch-scale barriers, as porous medium have the ability to interfere with airflow and reduce PM, which could be influenced by wind speed, particle size fraction and surface area density of clove. Moreover, clove elements could adjust to the wind and the micro structure of clove (such as the hierarchical structures of leaves) affected on the PM deposition. These results indicate that the methods developed in this study may be used to evaluate the potential of vegetation in mitigating PM from stationary sources, and some characteristics of vegetation can be further studied as bionic prototype for exploring engineering application of reducing particulates.