Lizards use the synergy between their feet and tail to climb on slopes and vertical terrains.They use their soft adhesive feet with millions of small hairs to increase their contact area with the terrain surface and p...Lizards use the synergy between their feet and tail to climb on slopes and vertical terrains.They use their soft adhesive feet with millions of small hairs to increase their contact area with the terrain surface and press their tails against the terrain to actively maintain stability during climbing.Inspired by this,we propose a bio-inspired climbing robot based on a new approach wherein the synergy between soft feet and an active tail with a soft adhesive tip allows the robot to climb stably on even and uneven terrains at different slope angles.We evaluate and compare the climbing performance of the robot on three different terrains(hard,soft,and fluffy)at different slope angles.Various robot configurations are employed,including those with standard hard feet and soft feet in combination with an active tail-with and without a soft tip.The experimental results show that the robot having soft feet and a tail with the soft tip achieves the best climbing performance on all terrains,with maximum climbing slopes of 40°,45°,and 50°on fluffy,soft,and hard terrains,respectively.Its payload capacity depends on the type of terrain and the inclination angle.Moreover,our robot performs multi-terrain transitions(climbing from horizontal to sloped terrains)on three different terrains of a slope.This approach can allow a climbing robot to walk and climb on different terrains,extending the operational range of the robot to areas with complex terrains and slopes,e.g.,in inspection,exploration,and construction.展开更多
Climbing behavior is a superior motion skill that animals have evolved to obtain a more beneficial position in complex natural environments.Compared to animals,current bionic climbing robots are less agile,stable,and ...Climbing behavior is a superior motion skill that animals have evolved to obtain a more beneficial position in complex natural environments.Compared to animals,current bionic climbing robots are less agile,stable,and energy-efficient.Further,they locomote at a low speed and have poor adaptation to the substrate.One of the key elements that can improve their locomotion efficiency is the active and flexible feet or toes observed in climbing animals.Inspired by the active attachment-detachment behavior of geckos,a hybrid pneumatic-electric-driven climbing robot with active attachment-detachment bionic flexible feet(toes)was developed.Although the introduction of bionic flexible toes can effectively improve the robot’s adaptability to the environment,it also poses control challenges,specifically,the realization of attachment-detachment behavior by the mechanics of the feet,the realization of hybrid drive control with different response characteristics,and the interlimb collaboration and limb-foot coordination with a hysteresis effect.Through the analysis of geckos’limbs and foot kinematic behavior during climbing,rhythmic attachment-detachment strategies and coordination behavior between toes and limbs at different inclines were identified.To enable the robot to achieve similar foot attachment-detachment behavior for climbing ability enhancement,we propose a modular neural control framework comprising a central pattern generator module,a post-processing central pattern generation module,a hysteresis delay line module,and an actuator signal conditioning module.Among them,the hysteresis adaptation module helps the bionic flexible toes to achieve variable phase relationships with the motorized joint,thus enabling proper limb-to-foot coordination and interlimb collaboration.The experiments demonstrated that the robot with neural control achieved proper coordination,resulting in a foot with a 285%larger adhesion area than that of a conventional algorithm.In addition,in the plane/arc climbing scenario,the robot with coordination behavior increased by as much as 150%,compared to the incoordinated one owing to its higher adhesion reliability.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key R&D Program of China,Topic 4-NUAA(Grant No.2020 YFB1313504)to PM.
文摘Lizards use the synergy between their feet and tail to climb on slopes and vertical terrains.They use their soft adhesive feet with millions of small hairs to increase their contact area with the terrain surface and press their tails against the terrain to actively maintain stability during climbing.Inspired by this,we propose a bio-inspired climbing robot based on a new approach wherein the synergy between soft feet and an active tail with a soft adhesive tip allows the robot to climb stably on even and uneven terrains at different slope angles.We evaluate and compare the climbing performance of the robot on three different terrains(hard,soft,and fluffy)at different slope angles.Various robot configurations are employed,including those with standard hard feet and soft feet in combination with an active tail-with and without a soft tip.The experimental results show that the robot having soft feet and a tail with the soft tip achieves the best climbing performance on all terrains,with maximum climbing slopes of 40°,45°,and 50°on fluffy,soft,and hard terrains,respectively.Its payload capacity depends on the type of terrain and the inclination angle.Moreover,our robot performs multi-terrain transitions(climbing from horizontal to sloped terrains)on three different terrains of a slope.This approach can allow a climbing robot to walk and climb on different terrains,extending the operational range of the robot to areas with complex terrains and slopes,e.g.,in inspection,exploration,and construction.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.51975283)the Basic Research Program of Shenzhen(JCYJ20210324122810033)。
文摘Climbing behavior is a superior motion skill that animals have evolved to obtain a more beneficial position in complex natural environments.Compared to animals,current bionic climbing robots are less agile,stable,and energy-efficient.Further,they locomote at a low speed and have poor adaptation to the substrate.One of the key elements that can improve their locomotion efficiency is the active and flexible feet or toes observed in climbing animals.Inspired by the active attachment-detachment behavior of geckos,a hybrid pneumatic-electric-driven climbing robot with active attachment-detachment bionic flexible feet(toes)was developed.Although the introduction of bionic flexible toes can effectively improve the robot’s adaptability to the environment,it also poses control challenges,specifically,the realization of attachment-detachment behavior by the mechanics of the feet,the realization of hybrid drive control with different response characteristics,and the interlimb collaboration and limb-foot coordination with a hysteresis effect.Through the analysis of geckos’limbs and foot kinematic behavior during climbing,rhythmic attachment-detachment strategies and coordination behavior between toes and limbs at different inclines were identified.To enable the robot to achieve similar foot attachment-detachment behavior for climbing ability enhancement,we propose a modular neural control framework comprising a central pattern generator module,a post-processing central pattern generation module,a hysteresis delay line module,and an actuator signal conditioning module.Among them,the hysteresis adaptation module helps the bionic flexible toes to achieve variable phase relationships with the motorized joint,thus enabling proper limb-to-foot coordination and interlimb collaboration.The experiments demonstrated that the robot with neural control achieved proper coordination,resulting in a foot with a 285%larger adhesion area than that of a conventional algorithm.In addition,in the plane/arc climbing scenario,the robot with coordination behavior increased by as much as 150%,compared to the incoordinated one owing to its higher adhesion reliability.
