Study on the Design and Experimental Research on a Bionic Crab Robot with Amphibious Multi-Modal Movement

Abstract

Bionic amphibious robots are the intersection of biology and robotics; they have the advantages of environmental adaptability and maneuverability. An amphibious robot that combines walking and swimming move modes inspired by a crab (Portunus) is presented in this article. The outstanding characteristic of the robot is that its environmental adaptability relies on the bionic multi-modal movement, which is based on two modular bionic swimming legs and six modular walking legs. We designed the biomimetic crab robot based on the biological observation results. The design, analysis, and simulation of its structure and motion parameters are introduced in this paper. The swimming propulsion capability and the walking performance are verified through indoor, pool, and seaside experiments. In conclusion, the designed bionic crab robot provides a platform with practical application capabilities in amphibious environment detection, concealed reconnaissance, and aquaculture.

Effect of Bionic Crab Shell Attitude Parameters on Lift and Drag in a Flow Field

“…In previous studies, we examined the crab-like robot's underwater bounding gait [18], swimming paddle design and flapping trajectory [39], and the effects of leg mechanism kinematic modeling and swimming paddle structural parameters on hydrodynamics [40], and demonstrated that the crab-like robot has good mobility capabilities in an amphibious environment. This paper presents a relevant study on the impact of bionic shell attitude change on lift and drag, which is utilized to optimize the underwater motion attitude of the crab-like robot, thereby establishing a research foundation for the promotion and autonomous motion control of crab-like robots.…”

Leg Mechanism Design and Motion Performance Analysis for an Amphibious Crab-like Robot

“…Robots can walk straight, walk laterally, turn in place on land, swim, and jump underwater. Previous studies investigated the design principles and gait experimental results of the undersea propulsion mode of a crab-like robot called "crab bounding gait" [22], introducing the design of the swimming paddle of the imitation crablike robot with the swimming prize swimming simulation process [23] as well as swimming paddle structural parameters on hydrodynamics [24]. This research initiates by presenting the design and dynamics modeling process of the parallel leg structure for a crab-like robot, wherein the parallel leg structure outperformed the series leg structure in terms of load capacity.…”