Perspectives on biologically inspired hybrid and multi-modal locomotion

Low, Kian Hsiang; Hu, Tianjiang; Mohammed, Samer; Tangorra, James L.; Kovač, Mirko

doi:10.1088/1748-3190/10/2/020301

Cited by 73 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 69 publications

(78 reference statements)

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“…Biomechanical trends in locomotion, body plan and surface attachment solutions emerge when function is compared across the diversity of organismal solutions. An integrated overview of the current state of bimodal aerial robotics and animal mechanics might thus provide a particularly valuable resource for new design inspiration [28][29][30][31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Touchdown to take-off: at the interface of flight and surface locomotion

Roderick¹,

Cutkosky²,

Lentink³

2017

Interface Focus.

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Small aerial robots are limited to short mission times because aerodynamic and energy conversion efficiency diminish with scale. One way to extend mission times is to perch, as biological flyers do. Beyond perching, small robot flyers benefit from manoeuvring on surfaces for a diverse set of tasks, including exploration, inspection and collection of samples. These opportunities have prompted an interest in bimodal aerial and surface locomotion on both engineered and natural surfaces. To accomplish such novel robot behaviours, recent efforts have included advancing our understanding of the aerodynamics of surface approach and take-off, the contact dynamics of perching and attachment and making surface locomotion more efficient and robust. While current aerial robots show promise, flying animals, including insects, bats and birds, far surpass them in versatility, reliability and robustness. The maximal size of both perching animals and robots is limited by scaling laws for both adhesion and claw-based surface attachment. Biomechanists can use the current variety of specialized robots as inspiration for probing unknown aspects of bimodal animal locomotion. Similarly, the pitch-up landing manoeuvres and surface attachment techniques of animals can offer an evolutionary design guide for developing robots that perch on more diverse and complex surfaces.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Touchdown to take-off: at the interface of flight and surface locomotion

Roderick¹,

Cutkosky²,

Lentink³

2017

Interface Focus.

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“…Although the development of fully functional aerialaquatic robots is still in its early stages, several prototypes have demonstrated multimodal abilities to varying degrees [4], [5]. A summary of developments presented in [6] classifies the types of aerial-aquatic vehicles according to the degree of autonomy and operation functions.…”

Section: Existing Aerial-aquatic Robotsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Efficient Aerial–Aquatic Locomotion With a Single Propulsion System

Siddall

Kovač

2017

IEEE Robot. Autom. Lett.

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Abstract-Aerial-Aquatic locomotion would allow a broad array of tasks in robot enabled environmental monitoring or disaster management. One of the most significant challenges of aerial-aquatic locomotion in mobile robots is finding a propulsion system that is capable of working effectively in both fluids, and transitioning between them. The large differences in the density and viscosity of air compared to water means that a single direct propulsion system without adaptability will be inefficient in at least one medium. This paper examines multimodal propeller propulsion using computational tools validated against experimental data. Based on this analysis we present a novel gearbox enabling an aerial propulsion system to operate efficiently underwater. This is achieved with minimal complexity using a single fixed pitch propeller system, which can change gear underwater by reversing the drive motor, but with the gearing arranged to leave the propeller direction unchanged. This system is then integrated into a small robot, and flights in air and locomotion underwater are demonstrated.

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“…Small aerial robotic systems (in particular multirotor UAVs and related technologies) not only raise great interests in the robotics research community, but also lead to extensive development on the consumer market. One major focus of the current research in this field includes multifunctional robotic systems capable of flying, perching, gliding, climbing, and manipulation (Kalantari & Spenko, ; Low, Hu, Mohammed, Tangorra, & Kovac, ) in unstructured outdoor environments. Seeking energy efficient locomotion, a jump‐gliding miniature robot (Vidyasagar, Zufferey, Floreano, & Kovač, ) is able to take off from ground using high‐power jumping mechanisms (Kovač, Schlegel, Zufferey, & Floreano, ), and uses gliding flight to effectively exploit the height gained after the boost for energy‐efficient mobility.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bioinspired design of a landing system with soft shock absorbers for autonomous aerial robots

Zhang

Chermprayong

Tzoumanikas

et al. 2018

Journal of Field Robotics

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One of the main challenges for autonomous aerial robots is to land safely on a target position on varied surface structures in real‐world applications. Most of current aerial robots (especially multirotors) use only rigid landing gears, which limit the adaptability to environments and can cause damage to the sensitive cameras and other electronics onboard. This paper presents a bioinpsired landing system for autonomous aerial robots, built on the inspire–abstract–implement design paradigm and an additive manufacturing process for soft thermoplastic materials. This novel landing system consists of 3D printable Sarrus shock absorbers and soft landing pads which are integrated with an one‐degree‐of‐freedom actuation mechanism. Both designs of the Sarrus shock absorber and the soft landing pad are analyzed via finite element analysis, and are characterized with dynamic mechanical measurements. The landing system with 3D printed soft components is characterized by completing landing tests on flat, convex, and concave steel structures and grassy field in a total of 60 times at different speeds between 1 and 2 m/s. The adaptability and shock absorption capacity of the proposed landing system is then evaluated and benchmarked against rigid legs. It reveals that the system is able to adapt to varied surface structures and reduce impact force by 540N at maximum. The bioinspired landing strategy presented in this paper opens a promising avenue in Aerial Biorobotics, where a cross‐disciplinary approach in vehicle control and navigation is combined with soft technologies, enabled with adaptive morphology.

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Perspectives on biologically inspired hybrid and multi-modal locomotion

Cited by 73 publications

References 69 publications

Touchdown to take-off: at the interface of flight and surface locomotion

Touchdown to take-off: at the interface of flight and surface locomotion

Efficient Aerial–Aquatic Locomotion With a Single Propulsion System

Bioinspired design of a landing system with soft shock absorbers for autonomous aerial robots

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