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Liu Z, Gu Y, Yu L, Yang X, Ma Z, Zhao J, Gu Y. Locomotion Control of Cyborg Insects by Charge-Balanced Biphasic Electrical Stimulation. CYBORG AND BIONIC SYSTEMS 2024; 5:0134. [PMID: 38975251 PMCID: PMC11223913 DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2024] [Accepted: 05/09/2024] [Indexed: 07/09/2024] Open
Abstract
The integration of electronic stimulation devices with insects in the context of cyborg insect systems has great application potential, particularly in the fields of environmental monitoring, urban surveillance, and rescue missions. Despite considerable advantages compared to the current robot technology, including flexibility, durability, and low energy consumption, this integration faces certain challenges related to the potential risk of charge accumulation caused by prolonged and repetitive electrical stimulations. To address these challenges, this study proposes a universal system for remote signal output control using infrared signals. The proposed system integrates high-precision digital-to-analog converters capable of generating customized waveform electrical stimulation signals within defined ranges. This enhances the accuracy of locomotion control in cyborg insects while maintaining real-time control and dynamic parameter adjustment. The proposed system is verified by experiments. The experimental results show that the signals generated by the proposed system have a success rate of over 76.25% in controlling the turning locomotion of cyborg insects, which is higher than previously reported results. In addition, the charge-balanced characteristics of these signals can minimize muscle tissue damage, thus substantially enhancing control repeatability. This study provides a comprehensive solution for the remote control and monitoring of cyborg insects, whose flexibility and adaptability can meet various application and experimental requirements. The results presented in this study lay a robust foundation for further advancement of various technologies, particularly those related to cyborg insect locomotion control systems and wireless control mechanisms for cyborg insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhong Liu
- School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence,
Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Yongxia Gu
- School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence,
Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Li Yu
- School of Mechanical Engineering,
Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Xiang Yang
- School of Computing and Artificial Intelligence,
Beijing Technology and Business University, Beijing 100048, China
| | - Zhiyun Ma
- School of Mechanical Engineering,
Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Jieliang Zhao
- School of Mechanical Engineering,
Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China
| | - Yufei Gu
- New York University Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi 129188, United Arab Emirates
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Ma S, Chen Y, Yang S, Liu S, Tang L, Li B, Li Y. The Autonomous Pipeline Navigation of a Cockroach Bio-Robot with Enhanced Walking Stimuli. CYBORG AND BIONIC SYSTEMS 2023; 4:0067. [PMID: 38026542 PMCID: PMC10631459 DOI: 10.34133/cbsystems.0067] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2023] [Accepted: 10/06/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Tens of crawling bio-robots with cockroaches as the mobile platform have been developed with various functions. Compared with artificial crawling robots of the same size, they revealed better flexibility, larger payload, and stronger endurance. These features made bio-robots ideal for pipeline inspection scenarios because the advancements in locomotion mechanisms and efficient power systems are still hurdles for current artificial systems. In this study, we controlled the bio-robot to crawl in the confined dark pipeline and achieved autonomous motion control with the help of an onboard sensing system. Specifically, a micro-camera was mounted on the electronic backpack of the cockroach for image collection, and an IMU sensor was used to compute its body orientation. The electronic backpack transmitted images to the host computer for junction recognition and distance estimation. Meanwhile, the insect's habituation to electrical stimulation has long been an uncertain factor in the control of bio-robots. Here, a synergistic stimulation strategy was proposed to markedly reduce the habituation and increase the number of effective turning controls to over 100 times. It is also found that both the increase of payload and the application of stimulations could promote the metabolic rate by monitoring carbon dioxide release. With the integration of synergistic stimulation and autonomous control, we demonstrated the fully autonomous pipeline navigation with our cockroach bio-robot, which realized the cycle number of approximately 10 in a roll. This research provides a novel technology that has the potential for practical applications in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Songsong Ma
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Morphing Mechanisms and Adaptive Robotics,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yuansheng Chen
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Songlin Yang
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Shen Liu
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Lingqi Tang
- The Biorobotics Institute, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy
| | - Bing Li
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Morphing Mechanisms and Adaptive Robotics,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
| | - Yao Li
- State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
- Guangdong Key Laboratory of Intelligent Morphing Mechanisms and Adaptive Robotics,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
- School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation,
Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China
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Webster-Wood VA, Guix M, Xu NW, Behkam B, Sato H, Sarkar D, Sanchez S, Shimizu M, Parker KK. Biohybrid robots: recent progress, challenges, and perspectives. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2022; 18:015001. [PMID: 36265472 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/ac9c3b] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
The past ten years have seen the rapid expansion of the field of biohybrid robotics. By combining engineered, synthetic components with living biological materials, new robotics solutions have been developed that harness the adaptability of living muscles, the sensitivity of living sensory cells, and even the computational abilities of living neurons. Biohybrid robotics has taken the popular and scientific media by storm with advances in the field, moving biohybrid robotics out of science fiction and into real science and engineering. So how did we get here, and where should the field of biohybrid robotics go next? In this perspective, we first provide the historical context of crucial subareas of biohybrid robotics by reviewing the past 10+ years of advances in microorganism-bots and sperm-bots, cyborgs, and tissue-based robots. We then present critical challenges facing the field and provide our perspectives on the vital future steps toward creating autonomous living machines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Victoria A Webster-Wood
- Mechanical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering (by courtesy), McGowan Institute of Regenerative Medicine, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15116, United States of America
| | - Maria Guix
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri-Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Departament de Ciència dels Materials i Química Física, Institut de Química Teòrica i Computacional Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Nicole W Xu
- Laboratories for Computational Physics and Fluid Dynamics, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Code 6041, Washington, DC, United States of America
| | - Bahareh Behkam
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Institute for Critical Technology and Applied Science, Blacksburg, VA 24061, United States of America
| | - Hirotaka Sato
- School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 65 Nanyang Drive, Singapore, 637460, Singapore
| | - Deblina Sarkar
- MIT Media Lab, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America
| | - Samuel Sanchez
- Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), Baldiri-Reixac 10-12, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
- Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Avda. Lluis Companys 23, 08010 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Masahiro Shimizu
- Department of Systems Innovation, Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, 1-3 Machikaneyama-machi, Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan
| | - Kevin Kit Parker
- Disease Biophysics Group, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States of America
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Vo-Doan TT, Dung VT, Sato H. A Cyborg Insect Reveals a Function of a Muscle in Free Flight. CYBORG AND BIONIC SYSTEMS 2022; 2022:9780504. [PMID: 36285304 PMCID: PMC9494732 DOI: 10.34133/2022/9780504] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
While engineers put lots of effort, resources, and time in building insect scale micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) that fly like insects, insects themselves are the real masters of flight. What if we would use living insect as platform for MAV instead? Here, we reported a flight control via electrical stimulation of a flight muscle of an insect-computer hybrid robot, which is the interface of a mountable wireless backpack controller and a living beetle. The beetle uses indirect flight muscles to drive wing flapping and three major direct flight muscles (basalar, subalar, and third axilliary (3Ax) muscles) to control the kinematics of the wings for flight maneuver. While turning control was already achieved by stimulating basalar and 3Ax muscles, electrical stimulation of subalar muscles resulted in braking and elevation control in flight. We also demonstrated around 20 degrees of contralateral yaw and roll by stimulating individual subalar muscle. Stimulating both subalar muscles lead to an increase of 20 degrees in pitch and decelerate the flight by 1.5 m/s2 as well as an induce in elevation of 2 m/s2.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. Thang Vo-Doan
- Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Singapore
- University of Freiburg, Institute of Biology I, Germany
| | - V. Than Dung
- Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Singapore
| | - Hirotaka Sato
- Nanyang Technological University, School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Singapore
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