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Chen H, Hong Q, Wang Z, Wang C, Zeng X, Zhang J. Memristive Circuit Implementation of Caenorhabditis Elegans Mechanism for Neuromorphic Computing. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS AND LEARNING SYSTEMS 2024; 35:12015-12026. [PMID: 37028291 DOI: 10.1109/tnnls.2023.3250655] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
To overcome the energy efficiency bottleneck of the von Neumann architecture and scaling limit of silicon transistors, an emerging but promising solution is neuromorphic computing, a new computing paradigm inspired by how biological neural networks handle the massive amount of information in a parallel and efficient way. Recently, there is a surge of interest in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), an ideal model organism to probe the mechanisms of biological neural networks. In this article, we propose a neuron model for C. elegans with leaky integrate-and-fire (LIF) dynamics and adjustable integration time. We utilize these neurons to build the C. elegans neural network according to their neural physiology, which comprises: 1) sensory modules; 2) interneuron modules; and 3) motoneuron modules. Leveraging these block designs, we develop a serpentine robot system, which mimics the locomotion behavior of C. elegans upon external stimulus. Moreover, experimental results of C. elegans neurons presented in this article reveals the robustness (1% error w.r.t. 10% random noise) and flexibility of our design in term of parameter setting. The work paves the way for future intelligent systems by mimicking the C. elegans neural system.
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Løwer J, Varagnolo D, Stavdahl Ø. Improved Jacobian matrix estimation applied to snake robots. Front Robot AI 2023; 10:1190349. [PMID: 37305525 PMCID: PMC10248462 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2023.1190349] [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: 03/20/2023] [Accepted: 04/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Two manipulator Jacobian matrix estimators for constrained planar snake robots are developed and tested, which enables the implementation of Jacobian-based obstacle-aided locomotion (OAL) control schemes. These schemes use obstacles in the robot's vicinity to obtain propulsion. The devised estimators infer manipulator Jacobians for constrained planar snake robots in situations where the positions and number of surrounding obstacle constraints might change or are not precisely known. The first proposed estimator is an adaptation of contemporary research in soft robots and builds on convex optimization. The second estimator builds on the unscented Kalman filter. By simulations, we evaluate and compare the two devised algorithms in terms of their statistical performance, execution times, and robustness to measurement noise. We find that both algorithms lead to Jacobian matrix estimates that are similarly useful to predict end-effector movements. However, the unscented filter approach requires significantly lower computing resources and is not poised by convergence issues displayed by the convex optimization-based method. We foresee that the estimators may have use in other fields of research, such as soft robotics and visual servoing. The estimators may also be adapted for use in general non-planar snake robots.
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Sibilska-Mroziewicz A, Hameed A, Możaryn J, Ordys A, Sibilski K. Analysis of the Snake Robot Kinematics with Virtual Reality Visualisation. SENSORS (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 23:3262. [PMID: 36991973 PMCID: PMC10059841 DOI: 10.3390/s23063262] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/17/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
In this article, we present a novel approach to performing engineering simulation in an interactive environment. A synesthetic design approach is employed, which enables the user to gather information about the system's behaviour more holistically, at the same time as facilitating interaction with the simulated system. The system considered in this work is a snake robot moving on a flat surface. The dynamic simulation of the robot's movement is realised in dedicated engineering software, whereas this software exchanges information with the 3D visualisation software and a Virtual Reality (VR) headset. Several simulation scenarios have been presented, comparing the proposed method with standard ways for visualising the robot's motion, such as 2D plots and 3D animations on a computer screen. This illustrates how, in the engineering context, this more immersive experience, allowing the viewer to observe the simulation results and modify the simulation parameters within the VR environment, can facilitate the analysis and design of systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna Sibilska-Mroziewicz
- Institute of Micromechanics and Photonics, Department of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ayesha Hameed
- Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics, Department of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jakub Możaryn
- Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics, Department of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Andrzej Ordys
- Institute of Automatic Control and Robotics, Department of Mechatronics, Warsaw University of Technology, 02-525 Warsaw, Poland
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Yaqoob B, Rodella A, Del Dottore E, Mondini A, Mazzolai B, Pugno NM. Mechanics and optimization of undulatory locomotion in different environments, tuning geometry, stiffness, damping and frictional anisotropy. J R Soc Interface 2023; 20:20220875. [PMID: 36751930 PMCID: PMC9905976 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0875] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 01/11/2023] [Indexed: 02/09/2023] Open
Abstract
One of the oldest yet most common modalities of locomotion known among limbless animals is undulatory, also recognized for its stability compared to legged locomotion. Multiple forms of active mechanisms, e.g. active gait control, and passive mechanisms, e.g. body morphology and material properties, have adapted to different environments. The current research explores the passive role of body stiffness and internal losses in meeting terrain requirements. Furthermore, it addresses the influence of the environment on the resultant gait and how the interplay between various environments and body properties can lead to different speeds. We modelled undulatory locomotion in a dry friction environment where frictional anisotropy determines propulsion. We found that the body stiffness, the moment of inertia, the dry frictional coefficient ratio between normal and tangential frictional constants, and the internal damping of the body play an essential role in optimizing speed and animal adaptability to external conditions. Furthermore, we demonstrate that various known gaits like swimming, crawling and polychaete-like locomotion are achieved as a result of the interaction between body and environment parameters. Moreover, we validated the model by retrieving a corn snake's speed using data from the literature. This study demonstrates that the dependence between morphology, body material properties and environment can be exploited to design long-segmented robots to perform in specialized situations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Basit Yaqoob
- Laboratory for Bioinspired, Bionic, Nano, Meta Materials and Mechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, 38122 Trento, Italy
- Laboratory of Bioinspired Soft Robotics, Center for Convergent Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Andrea Rodella
- Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy
| | - Emanuela Del Dottore
- Laboratory of Bioinspired Soft Robotics, Center for Convergent Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Alessio Mondini
- Laboratory of Bioinspired Soft Robotics, Center for Convergent Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Barbara Mazzolai
- Laboratory of Bioinspired Soft Robotics, Center for Convergent Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, 16163 Genova, Italy
| | - Nicola M. Pugno
- Laboratory for Bioinspired, Bionic, Nano, Meta Materials and Mechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, 38122 Trento, Italy
- School of Engineering and Materials Science, Queen Mary University of London, London E1 4NS, UK
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Cao Z, Zhang D, Zhou M. Direction Control and Adaptive Path Following of 3-D Snake-Like Robot Motion. IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CYBERNETICS 2022; 52:10980-10987. [PMID: 33784629 DOI: 10.1109/tcyb.2021.3055519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
This work investigates direction control and path following of a 3-D snake-like robot. In order to control such robots accurately, this work researches the relationships between its phase offsets of pitch joints and directions. A new direction control method is proposed for the robot based on these relationships. An adaptive path-following algorithm based on the line-of-sight guidance law is proposed and combined with the direction control method to steer the robot to move forward and along desired paths. Simulation and experimental results are presented to demonstrate the performances of the proposed 3-D model and control methods. They well outperform the classical and commonly used path-following method.
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Earnst A, Alben S. Efficient sliding locomotion of three-link bodies with inertia. Phys Rev E 2022; 106:044404. [PMID: 36397486 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.106.044404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2022] [Accepted: 09/09/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Many previous studies of sliding locomotion have assumed that body inertia is negligible. Here we optimize the kinematics of a three-link body for efficient locomotion and include among the kinematic parameters the temporal period of locomotion, or equivalently, the body inertia. The optimal inertia is nonnegligible when the coefficient of friction for sliding transverse to the body axis is small. Inertia is also significant in a few cases with relatively large coefficients of friction for transverse and backward sliding, and here the optimal motions are less sensitive to the inertia parameter. The optimal motions seem to converge as the number of frequencies used is increased from one to four. For some of the optimal motions with significant inertia we find dramatic reductions in efficiency when the inertia parameter is decreased to zero. For the motions that are optimal with zero inertia, the efficiency decreases more gradually when we raise the inertia to moderate and large values.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adam Earnst
- Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
| | - Silas Alben
- Department of Mathematics, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA
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Port-controlled Hamiltonian based control of snake robots. ARTIFICIAL LIFE AND ROBOTICS 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s10015-022-00741-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
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Path Tracking of an Underwater Snake Robot and Locomotion Efficiency Optimization Based on Improved Pigeon-Inspired Algorithm. JOURNAL OF MARINE SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 2022. [DOI: 10.3390/jmse10010047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
This paper considers the tracking control of curved paths for an underwater snake robot, and investigates the methods used to improve energy efficiency. Combined with the path-planning method based on PCSI (parametric cubic-spline interpolation), an improved LOS (light of sight) method is proposed to design the controller and guide the robot to move along the desired path. The evaluation of the energy efficiency of robot locomotion is discussed. In particular, a pigeon-inspired optimization algorithm improved by quantum rules (QPIO) is proposed for dynamically selecting the gait parameters that maximize energy efficiency. Simulation results show that the proposed controller enables the robot to accurately follow the curved path and that the QPIO algorithm is effective in improving robot energy efficiency.
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Non-electrically driven robot composed of oat seeds with awns. ARTIFICIAL LIFE AND ROBOTICS 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10015-021-00702-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Inazawa M, Takemori T, Tanaka M, Matsuno F. Unified Approach to the Motion Design for a Snake Robot Negotiating Complicated Pipe Structures. Front Robot AI 2021; 8:629368. [PMID: 34012981 PMCID: PMC8126667 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2021.629368] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2020] [Accepted: 03/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
A unified method for designing the motion of a snake robot negotiating complicated pipe structures is presented. Such robots moving inside pipes must deal with various “obstacles,” such as junctions, bends, diameter changes, shears, and blockages. To surmount these obstacles, we propose a method that enables the robot to adapt to multiple pipe structures in a unified way. This method also applies to motion that is necessary to pass between the inside and the outside of a pipe. We designed the target form of the snake robot using two helices connected by an arbitrary shape. This method can be applied to various obstacles by designing a part of the target form specifically for given obstacles. The robot negotiates obstacles under shift control by employing a rolling motion. Considering the slip between the robot and the pipe, the model expands the method to cover cases where two helices have different properties. We demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method in various experiments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mariko Inazawa
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Tatsuya Takemori
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
| | - Motoyasu Tanaka
- Department of Mechanical and Intelligent Systems Engineering, The University of Electro-Communications, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Fumitoshi Matsuno
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Science, Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
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Yamaguchi T, Ambe Y, Ando H, Konyo M, Tadakuma K, Maruyama S, Tadokoro S. A Mechanical Approach to Suppress the Oscillation of a Long Continuum Robot Flying With Water Jets. IEEE Robot Autom Lett 2019. [DOI: 10.1109/lra.2019.2932582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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A Snake-Like Robot with Envelope Wheels and Obstacle-Aided Gaits. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2019. [DOI: 10.3390/app9183749] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Most of the current snake-like robots can only work in a specific environment, or only have a good movement effect in a certain gait. This paper presents a design for a snake-like robot to improve the adaptability of various environments. Each standard module of the snake-like robot has three degrees of freedom: yawing, rolling, and telescoping. The envelope passive wheels are used to enable the robot to move in complex environments such as a narrow passage. We verified some simple movements such as serpentine movement and rectilinear movement and designed a method for recovering from rollover when the robot is in straight state. In addition, two novel gaits, obstacle-aided concertina gait, and obstacle-aided gait through narrow corner, are proposed in this paper. We demonstrated the feasibility for passing the narrow corner by these gaits in experiments.
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Locomotion Efficiency Optimization of Biologically Inspired Snake Robots. APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL 2018. [DOI: 10.3390/app8010080] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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Tang C, Shu X, Meng D, Zhou G. Arboreal concertina locomotion of snake robots on cylinders. INT J ADV ROBOT SYST 2017. [DOI: 10.1177/1729881417748440] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Chaoquan Tang
- School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Xin Shu
- School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Deyuan Meng
- School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
| | - Gongbo Zhou
- School of Mechatronic Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, China
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