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Design and control of soft biomimetic pangasius fish robot using fin ray effect and reinforcement learning. Sci Rep 2022; 12:21861. [PMID: 36529776 PMCID: PMC9760642 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-26179-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/18/2022] [Accepted: 12/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Soft robots provide a pathway to accurately mimic biological creatures and be integrated into their environment with minimal invasion or disruption to their ecosystem. These robots made from soft deforming materials possess structural properties and behaviors similar to the bodies and organs of living creatures. However, they are difficult to develop in terms of integrated actuation and sensing, accurate modeling, and precise control. This article presents a soft-rigid hybrid robotic fish inspired by the Pangasius fish. The robot employs a flexible fin ray tail structure driven by a servo motor, to act as the soft body of the robot and provide the undulatory motion to the caudal fin of the fish. To address the modeling and control challenges, reinforcement learning (RL) is proposed as a model-free control strategy for the robot fish to swim and reach a specified target goal. By training and investigating the RL through experiments on real hardware, we illustrate the capability of the fish to learn and achieve the required task.
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Recent Progress in Modeling and Control of Bio-Inspired Fish Robots. JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/jmse10060773] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
Abstract
Compared with traditional underwater vehicles, bio-inspired fish robots have the advantages of high efficiency, high maneuverability, low noise, and minor fluid disturbance. Therefore, they have gained an increasing research interest, which has led to a great deal of remarkable progress theoretically and practically in recent years. In this review, we first highlight our enhanced scientific understanding of bio-inspired propulsion and sensing underwater and then present the research progress and performance characteristics of different bio-inspired robot fish, classified by the propulsion method. Like the natural fish species they imitate, different types of bionic fish have different morphological structures and distinctive hydrodynamic properties. In addition, we select two pioneering directions about soft robotic control and multi-phase robotics. The hybrid dynamic control of soft robotic systems combines the accuracy of model-based control and the efficiency of model-free control, and is considered the proper way to optimize the classical control model with the intersection of multiple machine learning algorithms. Multi-phase robots provide a broader scope of application compared to ordinary bionic robot fish, with the ability of operating in air or on land outside the fluid. By introducing recent progress in related fields, we summarize the advantages and challenges of soft robotic control and multi-phase robotics, guiding the further development of bionic aquatic robots.
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Akanyeti O, Di Santo V, Goerig E, Wainwright DK, Liao JC, Castro-Santos T, Lauder GV. Fish-inspired segment models for undulatory steady swimming. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2022; 17:046007. [PMID: 35487201 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/ac6bd6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 04/29/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Many aquatic animals swim by undulatory body movements and understanding the diversity of these movements could unlock the potential for designing better underwater robots. Here, we analyzed the steady swimming kinematics of a diverse group of fish species to investigate whether their undulatory movements can be represented using a series of interconnected multi-segment models, and if so, to identify the key factors driving the segment configuration of the models. Our results show that the steady swimming kinematics of fishes can be described successfully using parsimonious models, 83% of which had fewer than five segments. In these models, the anterior segments were significantly longer than the posterior segments, and there was a direct link between segment configuration and swimming kinematics, body shape, and Reynolds number. The models representing eel-like fishes with elongated bodies and fishes swimming at high Reynolds numbers had more segments and less segment length variability along the body than the models representing other fishes. These fishes recruited their anterior bodies to a greater extent, initiating the undulatory wave more anteriorly. Two shape parameters, related to axial and overall body thickness, predicted segment configuration with moderate to high success rate. We found that head morphology was a good predictor of its segment length. While there was a large variation in head segments, the length of tail segments was similar across all models. Given that fishes exhibited variable caudal fin shapes, the consistency of tail segments could be a result of an evolutionary constraint tuned for high propulsive efficiency. The bio-inspired multi-segment models presented in this study highlight the key bending points along the body and can be used to decide on the placement of actuators in fish-inspired robots, to model hydrodynamic forces in theoretical and computational studies, or for predicting muscle activation patterns during swimming.
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Affiliation(s)
- Otar Akanyeti
- Department of Computer Science, Aberystwyth University, Ceredigion, SY23 3FL, United Kingdom
| | - Valentina Di Santo
- Division of Functional Morphology, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Elsa Goerig
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
- S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, USGS, Turners Falls, MA, United States of America
| | - Dylan K Wainwright
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States of America
| | - James C Liao
- Department of Biology, The Whitney Laboratory for Marine Bioscience, University of Florida, St. Augustine, FL, United States of America
| | - Theodore Castro-Santos
- S.O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, USGS, Turners Falls, MA, United States of America
| | - George V Lauder
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
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Du T, Hughes J, Wah S, Matusik W, Rus D. Underwater Soft Robot Modeling and Control With Differentiable Simulation. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 2021. [DOI: 10.1109/lra.2021.3070305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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Chen D, Wu Z, Dong H, Tan M, Yu J. Exploration of swimming performance for a biomimetic multi-joint robotic fish with a compliant passive joint. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2020; 16:026007. [PMID: 33105126 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/abc494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2020] [Accepted: 10/26/2020] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
In this paper, a novel compliant joint with two identical torsion springs is proposed for a biomimetic multi-joint robotic fish, which enables imitatation of the swimming behavior of live fish. More importantly, a dynamic model based on the Lagrangian dynamic method is developed to explore the compliant passive mechanism. In the dynamic modeling, a simplified Morrison equation is utilized to analyze the hydrodynamic forces. Further, the parameter identification technique is employed to estimate numerous hydrodynamic parameters. The extensive experimental data with different situations match well with the simulation results, which verifies the effectiveness of the obtained dynamic model. Finally, motivated by the requirement for performance optimization, we firstly take advantage of a dynamic model to investigate the effect of joint stiffness and control parameters on the swimming speed and energy efficiency of a biomimetic multi-joint robotic fish. The results reveal that phase difference plays a primary role in improving efficiency and the compliant joint presents a more significant role in performance improvement when a smaller phase difference is given. Namely, at the largest actuation frequency, the maximum improvement of energy efficiency is obtained and surprisingly approximates 89%. Additionally, the maximum improvement in maximum swimming speed is about 0.19 body lengths per second. These findings demonstrate the potential of compliance in optimizing joint design and locomotion control for better performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Di Chen
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China
| | - Zhengxing Wu
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China
| | - Huijie Dong
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China
| | - Min Tan
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China
| | - Junzhi Yu
- State Key Laboratory of Management and Control for Complex Systems, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, People's Republic of China
- State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, Department of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, BIC-ESAT, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, People's Republic of China
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Ali H, Ebrahimi H, Ghosh R. Tailorable elasticity of cantilever using spatio-angular functionally graded biomimetic scales. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s42558-019-0012-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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7
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Affiliation(s)
- Bingxing Chen
- School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
| | - Hongzhou Jiang
- School of Mechatronics Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
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8
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Romano D, Benelli G, Stefanini C. Encoding lateralization of jump kinematics and eye use in a locust via bio-robotic artifacts. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2019; 222:jeb.187427. [PMID: 30446536 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.187427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2018] [Accepted: 11/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
The effect of previous exposure to lateral sensory stimuli in shaping the response to subsequent symmetric stimuli represents an important overlooked issue in neuroethology, with special reference to arthropods. In this research, we investigated the hypothesis to 'programme' jumping escape direction as well as surveillance orientation in young and adult individuals of Locusta migratoria as an adaptive consequence of prior exposure to directional-biased predator approaches generated by a robotic leopard gecko representing Eublepharis macularius The manipulation of the jumping escape direction was successfully achieved in young locusts, although young L. migratoria did not exhibit innately lateralized jumping escapes. Jumping escape direction was also successfully manipulated in adult locusts, which exhibited innate lateralized jumping escape at the individual level. The innate lateralization of each instar of L. migratoria in using a preferential eye during surveillance was not affected by prior lateralized exposure to the robotic gecko. Our results indicate a high plasticity of the escape motor outputs that are occurring almost in real time with the perceived stimuli, making them greatly adaptable and compliant to environmental changes in order to be effective and reliable. In addition, surveillance lateralization innately occurs at population level in each instar of L. migratoria Therefore, its low forgeability by environmental factors would avoid disorganization at swarm level and improve swarm coordination during group tasks. These findings are consistent with the fact that, as in vertebrates, in insects the right hemisphere is specialized in controlling fear and escape functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donato Romano
- The BioRobotics Institute, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025 Pontedera, Pisa, Italy
| | - Giovanni Benelli
- The BioRobotics Institute, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025 Pontedera, Pisa, Italy.,Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via Del Borghetto 80, 56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Cesare Stefanini
- The BioRobotics Institute, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Viale Rinaldo Piaggio 34, 56025 Pontedera, Pisa, Italy.,Healthcare Engineering Innovation Center (HEIC), Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
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9
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Abstract
This article presents the design, fabrication, and characterization of a soft biomimetic robotic fish based on dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) that swims by body and/or caudal fin (BCF) propulsion. BCF is a promising locomotion mechanism that potentially offers swimming at higher speeds and acceleration rates, and efficient locomotion. The robot consists of laminated silicone layers wherein two DEAs are used in an antagonistic configuration, generating undulating fish-like motion. The design of the robot is guided by a mathematical model based on the Euler–Bernoulli beam theory and takes account of the nonuniform geometry of the robot and of the hydrodynamic effect of water. The modeling results were compared with the experimental results obtained from the fish robot with a total length of 150 mm, a thickness of 0.75 mm, and weight of 4.4 g. We observed that the frequency peaks in the measured thrust force produced by the robot are similar to the natural frequencies computed by the model. The peak swimming speed of the robot was 37.2 mm/s (0.25 body length/s) at 0.75 Hz. We also observed that the modal shape of the robot at this frequency corresponds to the first natural mode. The swimming of the robot resembles real fish and displays a Strouhal number very close to those of living fish. These results suggest the high potential of DEA-based underwater robots relying on BCF propulsion, and applicability of our design and fabrication methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jun Shintake
- Institute of Microengineering Lausanne Campus, School of Engineering, Station 17, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Vito Cacucciolo
- Institute of Microengineering Neuchâtel Campus, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Herbert Shea
- Institute of Microengineering Neuchâtel Campus, School of Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Switzerland
| | - Dario Floreano
- Institute of Microengineering Lausanne Campus, School of Engineering, Station 17, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Address correspondence to:Dario FloreanoInstitute of Microengineering Lausanne CampusSchool of Engineering, Station 17École Polytechnique Fédérale de LausanneLausanne 1015Switzerland
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Bonnet F, Cazenille L, Séguret A, Gribovskiy A, Collignon B, Halloy J, Mondada F. Design of a modular robotic system that mimics small fish locomotion and body movements for ethological studies. INT J ADV ROBOT SYST 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/1729881417706628] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Frank Bonnet
- Robotic Systems Laboratory, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Leo Cazenille
- Paris Interdisciplinary Energy Research Institute, University Paris Diderot VII, Paris, France
| | - Axel Séguret
- Paris Interdisciplinary Energy Research Institute, University Paris Diderot VII, Paris, France
| | - Alexey Gribovskiy
- Robotic Systems Laboratory, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
| | - Bertrand Collignon
- Paris Interdisciplinary Energy Research Institute, University Paris Diderot VII, Paris, France
| | - José Halloy
- Paris Interdisciplinary Energy Research Institute, University Paris Diderot VII, Paris, France
| | - Francesco Mondada
- Robotic Systems Laboratory, School of Engineering, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
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Mac Murray BC, An X, Robinson SS, van Meerbeek IM, O'Brien KW, Zhao H, Shepherd RF. Poroelastic Foams for Simple Fabrication of Complex Soft Robots. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2015; 27:6334-40. [PMID: 26384472 DOI: 10.1002/adma.201503464] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/17/2015] [Revised: 08/12/2015] [Indexed: 05/21/2023]
Abstract
Open-celled, elastomeric foams allow the simple design of fully 3D pneumatic soft machines using common forming techniques. This is demonstrated through the fabrication of simple actuators and an entirely soft, functional fluid pump formed in the shape of the human heart. The device pumps at physiologically relevant frequencies and pressures and attains a flow rate higher than all previously reported soft pumps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin C Mac Murray
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, 214 Bard Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Xintong An
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Cornell University, 120 Olin Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Sanlin S Robinson
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Cornell University, 214 Bard Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Ilse M van Meerbeek
- Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, 105 Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Kevin W O'Brien
- Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, 105 Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Huichan Zhao
- Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, 105 Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
| | - Robert F Shepherd
- Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, 105 Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA
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