Many animals possess adhesive pads on their feet, which are able tO attach to various substrates while controlling adhesive forces during locomotion. This review article studies the morphology of adhesive devices in a...Many animals possess adhesive pads on their feet, which are able tO attach to various substrates while controlling adhesive forces during locomotion. This review article studies the morphology of adhesive devices in animals, and the physical mechanisms of wet adhesion and dry adhesion. The adhesive pads are either ＇smooth＇ or densely covered with special adhesive setae. Smooth pads adhere by wet adhesion, which is facilitated by fluid secreted from the pads, whereas hairy pads can adhere by dry adhesion or wet adhesion. Contact area, distance between pad and substrate, viscosity and surface tension of the liquid filling the gap between pad and substrate are the most important factors which determine the wet adhesion. Dry adhesion was found only in hairy pads, which occurs in geckos and spiders. It was demonstrated that van der Waals interaction is the dominant adhesive force in geckos＇ adhesion. The bio-inspired applications derived from adhesive pads are also reviewed.展开更多
The effect of microscale contact of rough surfaces on the adhesion and friction under negative normal forces was experimentally investigated. The adhesive force of single point contact - sapphire ball to flat polyuret...The effect of microscale contact of rough surfaces on the adhesion and friction under negative normal forces was experimentally investigated. The adhesive force of single point contact - sapphire ball to flat polyurethane did not vary with the normal force. With rough surface contact, which was assumed to be a great number of point contacts, the adhesive force increased logarithmically with the normal force. Under negative normal force adhesive state, the tangential force （more than hundred mN） were much larger than the negative normal force （several mN） and increased with the linear decrease of negative normal force. The results reveal why the gecko＇s toe must slide slightly on the target surface when it makes contact on a surface and suggest how a biomimetic gecko foot might be designed.展开更多
Super depth digital microscope was employed to observe the macro-/micro-structure of Coleoptera's elytra.The non-smooth surface textures of elytra have shown superior performance of friction reduction and lubricat...Super depth digital microscope was employed to observe the macro-/micro-structure of Coleoptera's elytra.The non-smooth surface textures of elytra have shown superior performance of friction reduction and lubrication.Bionic models of regular hexagonal convex texture and circular concave texture inspired by the beetle were established and verified by numerical calculations and simulations.Further tribological experiments were performed and the results show that the circle texture has the lowest coefficient,which is consistent with the numerical calculations.The research may be further applied to new bionic surface texture designs and also work as a biological template for new bionic inventions.展开更多
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
The study of the movement behavior of geckos on a vertical surface, including the measurement and recording of the reaction forces as they move in different directions, plays an important role in understanding the mec...The study of the movement behavior of geckos on a vertical surface, including the measurement and recording of the reaction forces as they move in different directions, plays an important role in understanding the mechanics of the animals' locomotion. This study provides inspiration for the design of a control system for a bionics robot. The three-dimensional reaction forces of vertical surface-climbing geckos (Gekko gecko) were measured using a three-dimensional force-sensors-array. The behavior of gecko as it moved on a vertical surface was recorded with a high speed camera at 215 fps and the function of each foot of a gecko are discussed in this paper. The results showed that the gecko increased its velocity of movement mainly by increasing the stride frequency in the upward, downward and leftward direction and that the speed had no significant relationship to the attachment and detachment times. The feet above the center-of-mass play a key role in supporting the body, driving locomotion and balancing overturning etc. The movement behavior and foot function of geckos change correspondingly for different conditions, which results in safe and effective free vertical locomotion. This research will be helpful in designing gecko-like robots including the selection of gait planning and its control.展开更多
Because of their outstanding climbing and motor coordination ability, geckos have provided the basis for a peculiar bionic model leading to the development of a geckorobot. A three-dimensional locomotion observation s...Because of their outstanding climbing and motor coordination ability, geckos have provided the basis for a peculiar bionic model leading to the development of a geckorobot. A three-dimensional locomotion observation system was constructed to measure angular orientations of joints while geckos trotted (337.1 mm/s) and walked (66.7 mm/s) on horizontal surfaces, and trotted (241.5mm/s) and walked (30.6mm/s) on vertical surfaces. Moving over horizontal surfaces, the joints rotated more quickly the greater the speed, and the swinging scope of forelimbs stayed nearly at 59 degrees when swinging forward, but extended from 72 degrees to 79.2 degrees when swinging backward. The lifting angle of forelimbs was always positive to keep the center of mass close to the surface when moving up vertical surfaces, the scope of the forward swinging forelimbs forward extended from 33.7 degrees to 36.7 degrees with increasing speed, while the scope of backward swinging forelimbs remained almost the same at 87.5 degrees. Alternative gaits had little effect on the swing angle of hindlimbs of the geckos moving on both horizontal and vertical surfaces.展开更多
Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite （IPMC） is a new electro-active polymer, which has the advantages of light weight, flexibility, and large stroke with low driving voltage. Because of these features, IPMC can be applied ...Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite （IPMC） is a new electro-active polymer, which has the advantages of light weight, flexibility, and large stroke with low driving voltage. Because of these features, IPMC can be applied to bionic robotic actuators, artificial muscles, as well as dynamic sensors. However, IPMC has the major drawback of low generative blocking force. In this paper, in order to enhance the blocking force, the Nation membranes with thickness of 0.22 mm, 0.32 mm, 0.42 mm, 0.64 mm and 0.8 mm were prepared by casting from liquid solution. By employing these Nation membranes, IPMCs with varying thickness were fabricated by electroless plating. The elastic modulus of the casted Nation membranes were obtained by a nano-indenter, and the current, the displacement and the blocking force were respectively measured by the apparatus for actuation test. Finally, the effects of the thickness on the performance of IPMC were analyzed with an electromechanical model. Experimental study and theory analysis indicate that as the thickness increases, the elastic modulus of Nation membrane and the blocking force of IPMC increase, however, the current and the displacement decrease.展开更多
Many animals exhibit strong mechanical interlocking in order to achieve efficient climbing against rough surfaces by using their claws in the pads. To maximally use the mechanical interlocking, an innovative robot whi...Many animals exhibit strong mechanical interlocking in order to achieve efficient climbing against rough surfaces by using their claws in the pads. To maximally use the mechanical interlocking, an innovative robot which utilizes flexible pad with claws is designed. The mechanism for attachments of the claws against rough surfaces is further revealed according to the theoretical analysis. Moreover, the effects of the key parameters on the performances of the climbing robots are obtained. It indicates that decreasing the size of the tip of the claws while maintaining its stiffness unchanged can effectively improve the attachment ability. Furthermore, the structure of robot body and two foot trajectories are proposed and the new robot is presented. Using experimental tests, it demonstrates that this robot has high stability and adaptability while climbing on vertical rough surfaces up to a speed of 4.6 cm.s^-1.展开更多
Locomotion ability, efficiency and reliability are key targets for a good robot. The linkage mechanism for robot locomotion is a discontinuous-constraint metamorphic mechanism. Here we set up equations to present the ...Locomotion ability, efficiency and reliability are key targets for a good robot. The linkage mechanism for robot locomotion is a discontinuous-constraint metamorphic mechanism. Here we set up equations to present the discontinuous-constraint, point out that driving and controlling are the key points to improve the performance and efficiency of the linkage mechanism. Inspired by controlling strategy of the motor nervous system in peripheral vertebrae to the locomotion, we draw off motor control and drive strategy.展开更多
Ni-P-nano Al2O3 composite coatings were deposited by electroless plating,and their microstructures were observed by SEM（scanning electron microscope）.The microhardness and the wear resistance of the Ni-P-nano Al2O3 ...Ni-P-nano Al2O3 composite coatings were deposited by electroless plating,and their microstructures were observed by SEM（scanning electron microscope）.The microhardness and the wear resistance of the Ni-P-nano Al2O3 composite coatings were measured using microhardness tester and block-on-ring tribometer,respectively,and the comparison with those of Ni-P coatings or Ni-P-micro Al2O3 coating was given.The influences of aging temperature on their hardness and wear resistance were analyzed.The results showed that the nano Al2O3 particles were distributed uniformly in the Ni-P-Al2O3 coatings.Among three kinds of Ni-P based coatings,the hardness and wear resistance of Ni-P-nano Al2O3 coatings were largest,and the maximum values could be obtained at 400 ℃.This indicated that the precipitation of nano Al2O3 particles would improve the hardness and wear resistance of the Ni-P coatings.展开更多
Studying the locomotive behavior of animals has the potential to inspire the design of the mechanism and gait patterns of robots ("bio-inspired robots"). The kinematics characteristics of a spider (Ornithoct...Studying the locomotive behavior of animals has the potential to inspire the design of the mechanism and gait patterns of robots ("bio-inspired robots"). The kinematics characteristics of a spider (Ornithoctonus huwena), including movement of the legs, movement of the center of mass (COM) and joint-rotation angle, were obtained from the observation of locomotion behaviors recorded by a three-dimensional locomotion observation system. Our results showed that one set of the stance phase consists of four legs, which were leg-1 and leg-3 on one side and leg-2 and leg-4 on the other side. Additionally, two sets of the stance phase comprised eight legs alternately supporting and driving the motion of the spider's body. The spider primarily increased its movement velocity by increasing stride frequency. In comparison to other insects, the spider, O. huwena, has superior movement stability. The velocity and height of COM periodically fluctuated during movement, reaching a maximum during alternation of leg phase, and falling to a minimum in the steady stance phase. The small change in deflection angle of the hind-leg was effective in driving locomotion, whereas each joint-rotation angle of the fore-leg changed irregularly during locomotion. This research will help in the design of bio-inspired robots, including the selection of gait planning and its control.展开更多
A new kind of bio-inspired, lightweight structure was designed and built from carbon fibre prepreg based on the cross-sectional microstructure of a beetle's elytra. The compression strength and failure process of ...A new kind of bio-inspired, lightweight structure was designed and built from carbon fibre prepreg based on the cross-sectional microstructure of a beetle's elytra. The compression strength and failure process of the resulting structure was analysed using the finite element method; while at the same time, a quasi-static compression experiment was performed using an electronic universal testing machine to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of this finite element method. This bio-inspired structure was compared against a conventional honeycomb structure using FEM, revealing that for a given porosity and load parallel to the axis of the core tubes the respective compressive and specific compressive strengths of the bioinspired structure are much higher at 84.3 MPa and194.7 MPa/(g cm-3); thus demonstrating that this bioinspired structure has superior compressive capability.展开更多
Ion-exchange Polymer Metal Composites （IPMC） are a new class of intelligent material that can be used effectively as actuators and artificial muscles. IPMC was fabricated and its displacement and force characteristi...Ion-exchange Polymer Metal Composites （IPMC） are a new class of intelligent material that can be used effectively as actuators and artificial muscles. IPMC was fabricated and its displacement and force characteristics were investigated with respect to voltage, frequency and waveform of the controlling signal. A square waveform input generated slightly larger displacement and force than sinusoidal or triangular waveform. When the voltage was increased and the frequency was decreased, displacement and force were both increased. However, although the bending deformation of IPMC was large, the output force was much lower than we expected. Improvement of the force output is key and is the main obstacle to be overcome in order to make IPMC of practical use.展开更多
Various bio-inspired dry adhesive materials have been investigated.In this work,lithography and silicon deep etching method were used to fabricate bio-inspired micro-pillar dry adhesive materials of which the paramete...Various bio-inspired dry adhesive materials have been investigated.In this work,lithography and silicon deep etching method were used to fabricate bio-inspired micro-pillar dry adhesive materials of which the parameters,such as side length,Height to Side length Aspect Ratio(HSAR),and inter-pillar Distance to Side length Aspect Ratio(DSAR)were comprehensively studied to obtain a dry adhesive with high adhesion.An orthogonal array method was designed and a series of fabrication experiments were conducted to identify optimum parameters,which resulted in a high normal adhesion of 2.98 N·cm^-2 and a shear adhesion of 9.59 N·cm^-2.An adhesion and desorption device was further designed on basis of the optimum dry adhesive,which enables an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)to successfully adhere on and detach from a ceiling.This would allow an UAV to stay aloft for prolonged time,which could be invaluable to many applications,such as energy conservation and aerial detection.展开更多
Male-male vocal competition is critical for mating success in anuran species;however,it remains unknown that how males regulate their competitive strategies dynamically during competition because calling is highly tim...Male-male vocal competition is critical for mating success in anuran species;however,it remains unknown that how males regulate their competitive strategies dynamically during competition because calling is highly time-consuming,energetically demanding and likely to increase predation risks.Since different parts of calls will encode different information for vocal communication,we hypothesized that competitive strategies of male frogs may be modulated by the temporal and spectral features of different call notes.To test this hypothesis,the natural advertisement calls(OC),its modified versions with the first call note replaced by white noise(WN)or other notes and with the fifth call note replaced by WN,were played back to the Anhui tree frogs(Rhacophorus zhoukaiyae).Results showed that 1)males produced more competitive calls in response to acoustic stimuli compared to their baseline calling during silence;and 2)males emitted more non-overlapping calls compared to overlapping calls in response to the acoustic stimuli.These results are consistent with the idea that males are flexible to acoustic signals and their competition strategies are modulated dynamically by social contexts.展开更多
The modulation and control of gecko＇s foot movements were studied electrophysiologically in order to design the motor control system of a gecko-mimic robot. In this study （1） the anatomy of the peripheral nerves co...The modulation and control of gecko＇s foot movements were studied electrophysiologically in order to design the motor control system of a gecko-mimic robot. In this study （1） the anatomy of the peripheral nerves controlling the gecko＇s foot movements was determined; （2） the relationship between the limb nerves of the gecko and its foot motor patterns was studied; （3） the afferent impulses of the nerves evoked by rubbing the gecko＇s toes and palm were recorded; （4） copying the natural patterns of movement of the gecko＇s foot （abduction, adduction, flexion, and revolution） and its limb nerve modulation and control mechanism, the nerves were stimulated under computer control, and the results recorded by CCD. Results suggest that gecko＇s foot movements can be successfully controlled by artificial electrical signals.展开更多
Animals have evolved a variety of behavior patterns to adapt to the environment. Motion-capture technology is utilized to quantify and characterize locomotor behaviors to reveal the mechanisms of animal motion. In the...Animals have evolved a variety of behavior patterns to adapt to the environment. Motion-capture technology is utilized to quantify and characterize locomotor behaviors to reveal the mechanisms of animal motion. In the capture of flexible, small animals with complex locomotor behaviors, the markers interfere with each other easily, and the motion forms(bending, twisting) of the moving parts are obviously different;thus, it is a great challenge to realize accurate quantitative characterization of complex locomotor behaviors. The correlation between the marker properties, including the size and space length, and the precision of the system are revealed in this paper, and the effects of diverse marker shapes on the capturing accuracy of the captured objects in different motion forms were tested. Results showed that the precision of system is significantly improved when the ratio of the space length to the diameter of the markers is larger than four;for the capture of the spatial twisting motion of the flexible object, the hexagon markers had the lowest spatial lost-marker rate relative to the circle, triangle, and square. Customized markers were used to capture the locomotor behavior of the gecko-inspired robot(rigid connection) and the gecko(flexible connection). The results showed that this marking technology can achieve high accuracy of motion capture for geckos(the average deviation was approximately 0.32 mm, and the average deviation’s variation rate was approximately 0.96%). In this paper, the marking technology for the motion capture of flexible, small animals with complex motion is proposed;it can effectively improve the system precision as well as the capture accuracy, and realize the quantitative characterization of the complex motion of flexible, small objects. It provides a reliable technical means to deeply study the evolution of the motion function of small animals and advance systematic research of motion-capture technology.展开更多
In order to further improve the driving performance of ionic polymer metal composites(IPMCs),Nafion/graphene quantum dots(GQDs)hybrid membranes incorporating GQDs with various contents of 0,0.1 wt.%,0.5 wt.%,1.0 wt.%,...In order to further improve the driving performance of ionic polymer metal composites(IPMCs),Nafion/graphene quantum dots(GQDs)hybrid membranes incorporating GQDs with various contents of 0,0.1 wt.%,0.5 wt.%,1.0 wt.%,2.0 wt.%and 4.0 wt.%were fabricated by solution casting,and then IPMCs were manufactured by electroless plating.The water contents and elastic moduli of the hybrid membranes were tested.The morphology characteristics of the hybrid membranes and the IPMCs were observed,and the current,AC impedance,blocking force and displacement of the IPMCs were measured.The results show that the elastic modulus of the hybrid membranes decreases,the water content increases,and the actuation performance of the IPMCs improves significantly after the addition of GQDs.IPMC with 1.0 wt.%GQDs exhibits the best driving property.Compared with the IPMC without GQDs,the working current,ion conductivity,blocking force,and tip displacement increase by 94.67%,311.11%,53.66%,and 66.07%,respectively.These results lay a solid foundation for the preparation of IPMCs with high performance,and further broaden their applications in biomedical devices and bionic robots.展开更多
Inspired by the unique structure of insect compound eyes,a multi-channel image acquisition system is designed to photograph a cylindrical panorama of its surroundings with one shot. The hardware structure consists of ...Inspired by the unique structure of insect compound eyes,a multi-channel image acquisition system is designed to photograph a cylindrical panorama of its surroundings with one shot. The hardware structure consists of an embedded ARM system and one array of 16 micro-image sensors. The system achieves the synchronization of captured photos in 10 ms,as well as 10 f /s video capture. The software architecture includes the TCP /IP protocol,video capture procedures in"Poll/Read"or"video streaming"modes,thread pool monitoring in multi-threading mutex,synchronization control with the"event""mutex signal"and"critical region"functions,and a synthetic image algorithm characterized by its portability,modularity,and remote transmission. The panoramic imaging system is expected to be a vision sensor for mobile robotics.展开更多
As the basis of flight behavior,the initiation process of insect flight is accompanied by a transition from crawling mode to flight mode,and is clearly important and complex.Insects take flight from a vertical surface...As the basis of flight behavior,the initiation process of insect flight is accompanied by a transition from crawling mode to flight mode,and is clearly important and complex.Insects take flight from a vertical surface,which is more difficult than takeoff from a horizontal plane,but greatly expands the space of activity and provides us with an excellent bionic model.In this study,the entire process of a butterfly alighting from a vertical surface was captured by a high-speed camera system,and the movements of its body and wings were accurately measured for the first time.After analyzing the movement of the center of mass,it was found that before initiation,the acceleration perpendicular to the wall was much greater than the acceleration parallel to the wall,reflecting the positive effects of the legs during the initiation process.However,the angular velocity of the body showed that this process was unstable,and was further destabilized as the flight speed increased.Comparing the angles between the body and the vertical direction before and after leaving the wall,a significant change in body posture was found,evidencing the action of aerodynamic forces on the body.The movement of the wings was further analyzed to obtain the laws of the three Euler angles,thus revealing the locomotory mechanism of the butterfly taking off from the vertical surface.展开更多
文摘Many animals possess adhesive pads on their feet, which are able tO attach to various substrates while controlling adhesive forces during locomotion. This review article studies the morphology of adhesive devices in animals, and the physical mechanisms of wet adhesion and dry adhesion. The adhesive pads are either ＇smooth＇ or densely covered with special adhesive setae. Smooth pads adhere by wet adhesion, which is facilitated by fluid secreted from the pads, whereas hairy pads can adhere by dry adhesion or wet adhesion. Contact area, distance between pad and substrate, viscosity and surface tension of the liquid filling the gap between pad and substrate are the most important factors which determine the wet adhesion. Dry adhesion was found only in hairy pads, which occurs in geckos and spiders. It was demonstrated that van der Waals interaction is the dominant adhesive force in geckos＇ adhesion. The bio-inspired applications derived from adhesive pads are also reviewed.
文摘The effect of microscale contact of rough surfaces on the adhesion and friction under negative normal forces was experimentally investigated. The adhesive force of single point contact - sapphire ball to flat polyurethane did not vary with the normal force. With rough surface contact, which was assumed to be a great number of point contacts, the adhesive force increased logarithmically with the normal force. Under negative normal force adhesive state, the tangential force （more than hundred mN） were much larger than the negative normal force （several mN） and increased with the linear decrease of negative normal force. The results reveal why the gecko＇s toe must slide slightly on the target surface when it makes contact on a surface and suggest how a biomimetic gecko foot might be designed.
基金supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.51175249,51475230)
文摘Super depth digital microscope was employed to observe the macro-/micro-structure of Coleoptera's elytra.The non-smooth surface textures of elytra have shown superior performance of friction reduction and lubrication.Bionic models of regular hexagonal convex texture and circular concave texture inspired by the beetle were established and verified by numerical calculations and simulations.Further tribological experiments were performed and the results show that the circle texture has the lowest coefficient,which is consistent with the numerical calculations.The research may be further applied to new bionic surface texture designs and also work as a biological template for new bionic inventions.
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 Funding for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BCXJ10-10)the National Hi-Tech Research & Development Program of China (2007AA04Z201)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (60910007, 50705043, 50975140 and 30700068)
文摘The study of the movement behavior of geckos on a vertical surface, including the measurement and recording of the reaction forces as they move in different directions, plays an important role in understanding the mechanics of the animals' locomotion. This study provides inspiration for the design of a control system for a bionics robot. The three-dimensional reaction forces of vertical surface-climbing geckos (Gekko gecko) were measured using a three-dimensional force-sensors-array. The behavior of gecko as it moved on a vertical surface was recorded with a high speed camera at 215 fps and the function of each foot of a gecko are discussed in this paper. The results showed that the gecko increased its velocity of movement mainly by increasing the stride frequency in the upward, downward and leftward direction and that the speed had no significant relationship to the attachment and detachment times. The feet above the center-of-mass play a key role in supporting the body, driving locomotion and balancing overturning etc. The movement behavior and foot function of geckos change correspondingly for different conditions, which results in safe and effective free vertical locomotion. This research will be helpful in designing gecko-like robots including the selection of gait planning and its control.
基金Supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2007AA04Z201)National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 60535020, 30700068 and 50705043)
文摘Because of their outstanding climbing and motor coordination ability, geckos have provided the basis for a peculiar bionic model leading to the development of a geckorobot. A three-dimensional locomotion observation system was constructed to measure angular orientations of joints while geckos trotted (337.1 mm/s) and walked (66.7 mm/s) on horizontal surfaces, and trotted (241.5mm/s) and walked (30.6mm/s) on vertical surfaces. Moving over horizontal surfaces, the joints rotated more quickly the greater the speed, and the swinging scope of forelimbs stayed nearly at 59 degrees when swinging forward, but extended from 72 degrees to 79.2 degrees when swinging backward. The lifting angle of forelimbs was always positive to keep the center of mass close to the surface when moving up vertical surfaces, the scope of the forward swinging forelimbs forward extended from 33.7 degrees to 36.7 degrees with increasing speed, while the scope of backward swinging forelimbs remained almost the same at 87.5 degrees. Alternative gaits had little effect on the swing angle of hindlimbs of the geckos moving on both horizontal and vertical surfaces.
基金Acknowledgement The authors thank the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant No. 50705043, 60535020 and 60910007）.
文摘Ionic Polymer-Metal Composite （IPMC） is a new electro-active polymer, which has the advantages of light weight, flexibility, and large stroke with low driving voltage. Because of these features, IPMC can be applied to bionic robotic actuators, artificial muscles, as well as dynamic sensors. However, IPMC has the major drawback of low generative blocking force. In this paper, in order to enhance the blocking force, the Nation membranes with thickness of 0.22 mm, 0.32 mm, 0.42 mm, 0.64 mm and 0.8 mm were prepared by casting from liquid solution. By employing these Nation membranes, IPMCs with varying thickness were fabricated by electroless plating. The elastic modulus of the casted Nation membranes were obtained by a nano-indenter, and the current, the displacement and the blocking force were respectively measured by the apparatus for actuation test. Finally, the effects of the thickness on the performance of IPMC were analyzed with an electromechanical model. Experimental study and theory analysis indicate that as the thickness increases, the elastic modulus of Nation membrane and the blocking force of IPMC increase, however, the current and the displacement decrease.
基金Acknowledgment This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （51375232） and Key Plan of Research and Development of Jiangsu Province （BE2017766）.
文摘Many animals exhibit strong mechanical interlocking in order to achieve efficient climbing against rough surfaces by using their claws in the pads. To maximally use the mechanical interlocking, an innovative robot which utilizes flexible pad with claws is designed. The mechanism for attachments of the claws against rough surfaces is further revealed according to the theoretical analysis. Moreover, the effects of the key parameters on the performances of the climbing robots are obtained. It indicates that decreasing the size of the tip of the claws while maintaining its stiffness unchanged can effectively improve the attachment ability. Furthermore, the structure of robot body and two foot trajectories are proposed and the new robot is presented. Using experimental tests, it demonstrates that this robot has high stability and adaptability while climbing on vertical rough surfaces up to a speed of 4.6 cm.s^-1.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China under No. 60535020 , 50575102.
文摘Locomotion ability, efficiency and reliability are key targets for a good robot. The linkage mechanism for robot locomotion is a discontinuous-constraint metamorphic mechanism. Here we set up equations to present the discontinuous-constraint, point out that driving and controlling are the key points to improve the performance and efficiency of the linkage mechanism. Inspired by controlling strategy of the motor nervous system in peripheral vertebrae to the locomotion, we draw off motor control and drive strategy.
基金Item Sponsored by Jiangsu Natural Science Foundation of China(04KJB430013)Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Friction Wear Opening Foundation
文摘Ni-P-nano Al2O3 composite coatings were deposited by electroless plating,and their microstructures were observed by SEM（scanning electron microscope）.The microhardness and the wear resistance of the Ni-P-nano Al2O3 composite coatings were measured using microhardness tester and block-on-ring tribometer,respectively,and the comparison with those of Ni-P coatings or Ni-P-micro Al2O3 coating was given.The influences of aging temperature on their hardness and wear resistance were analyzed.The results showed that the nano Al2O3 particles were distributed uniformly in the Ni-P-Al2O3 coatings.Among three kinds of Ni-P based coatings,the hardness and wear resistance of Ni-P-nano Al2O3 coatings were largest,and the maximum values could be obtained at 400 ℃.This indicated that the precipitation of nano Al2O3 particles would improve the hardness and wear resistance of the Ni-P coatings.
基金supported by Funding for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation in Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (BCXJ10-10)the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (2007AA04Z201)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (60910007,31070344 and 50975140)
文摘Studying the locomotive behavior of animals has the potential to inspire the design of the mechanism and gait patterns of robots ("bio-inspired robots"). The kinematics characteristics of a spider (Ornithoctonus huwena), including movement of the legs, movement of the center of mass (COM) and joint-rotation angle, were obtained from the observation of locomotion behaviors recorded by a three-dimensional locomotion observation system. Our results showed that one set of the stance phase consists of four legs, which were leg-1 and leg-3 on one side and leg-2 and leg-4 on the other side. Additionally, two sets of the stance phase comprised eight legs alternately supporting and driving the motion of the spider's body. The spider primarily increased its movement velocity by increasing stride frequency. In comparison to other insects, the spider, O. huwena, has superior movement stability. The velocity and height of COM periodically fluctuated during movement, reaching a maximum during alternation of leg phase, and falling to a minimum in the steady stance phase. The small change in deflection angle of the hind-leg was effective in driving locomotion, whereas each joint-rotation angle of the fore-leg changed irregularly during locomotion. This research will help in the design of bio-inspired robots, including the selection of gait planning and its control.
基金supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB302106)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51175249, 51105201)+1 种基金the Aero-Science Foundation of China (2013ZF52072)the Specialized Research Fund for the Doctoral Program of Higher Education (20123218110010)
文摘A new kind of bio-inspired, lightweight structure was designed and built from carbon fibre prepreg based on the cross-sectional microstructure of a beetle's elytra. The compression strength and failure process of the resulting structure was analysed using the finite element method; while at the same time, a quasi-static compression experiment was performed using an electronic universal testing machine to verify the effectiveness and accuracy of this finite element method. This bio-inspired structure was compared against a conventional honeycomb structure using FEM, revealing that for a given porosity and load parallel to the axis of the core tubes the respective compressive and specific compressive strengths of the bioinspired structure are much higher at 84.3 MPa and194.7 MPa/(g cm-3); thus demonstrating that this bioinspired structure has superior compressive capability.
基金support from National Natural Science Foundation of China(60535020,90205014)the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China(863 Program)(2002AA423230).
文摘Ion-exchange Polymer Metal Composites （IPMC） are a new class of intelligent material that can be used effectively as actuators and artificial muscles. IPMC was fabricated and its displacement and force characteristics were investigated with respect to voltage, frequency and waveform of the controlling signal. A square waveform input generated slightly larger displacement and force than sinusoidal or triangular waveform. When the voltage was increased and the frequency was decreased, displacement and force were both increased. However, although the bending deformation of IPMC was large, the output force was much lower than we expected. Improvement of the force output is key and is the main obstacle to be overcome in order to make IPMC of practical use.
基金The authors gratefully acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.51605220)Jiangsu Province Natural Science Foundation(No.BK20160793)the High Level Introduction of Talent Research Start-up Fund in NUAA(No.1011-YAH16010)。
文摘Various bio-inspired dry adhesive materials have been investigated.In this work,lithography and silicon deep etching method were used to fabricate bio-inspired micro-pillar dry adhesive materials of which the parameters,such as side length,Height to Side length Aspect Ratio(HSAR),and inter-pillar Distance to Side length Aspect Ratio(DSAR)were comprehensively studied to obtain a dry adhesive with high adhesion.An orthogonal array method was designed and a series of fabrication experiments were conducted to identify optimum parameters,which resulted in a high normal adhesion of 2.98 N·cm^-2 and a shear adhesion of 9.59 N·cm^-2.An adhesion and desorption device was further designed on basis of the optimum dry adhesive,which enables an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV)to successfully adhere on and detach from a ceiling.This would allow an UAV to stay aloft for prolonged time,which could be invaluable to many applications,such as energy conservation and aerial detection.
基金supported by the grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.31970422,31672305 and 31372217 to Guangzhan FANG,No.31572275 to Yezhong TANG)the grants from Biodiversity Conservation Programe of Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China to Baowei ZHANG。
文摘Male-male vocal competition is critical for mating success in anuran species;however,it remains unknown that how males regulate their competitive strategies dynamically during competition because calling is highly time-consuming,energetically demanding and likely to increase predation risks.Since different parts of calls will encode different information for vocal communication,we hypothesized that competitive strategies of male frogs may be modulated by the temporal and spectral features of different call notes.To test this hypothesis,the natural advertisement calls(OC),its modified versions with the first call note replaced by white noise(WN)or other notes and with the fifth call note replaced by WN,were played back to the Anhui tree frogs(Rhacophorus zhoukaiyae).Results showed that 1)males produced more competitive calls in response to acoustic stimuli compared to their baseline calling during silence;and 2)males emitted more non-overlapping calls compared to overlapping calls in response to the acoustic stimuli.These results are consistent with the idea that males are flexible to acoustic signals and their competition strategies are modulated dynamically by social contexts.
基金This work was funded by Hi-tech Research and Development Program of China(2002AA 423230)National Natural Science Foundation of China(90205014,30400086).
文摘The modulation and control of gecko＇s foot movements were studied electrophysiologically in order to design the motor control system of a gecko-mimic robot. In this study （1） the anatomy of the peripheral nerves controlling the gecko＇s foot movements was determined; （2） the relationship between the limb nerves of the gecko and its foot motor patterns was studied; （3） the afferent impulses of the nerves evoked by rubbing the gecko＇s toes and palm were recorded; （4） copying the natural patterns of movement of the gecko＇s foot （abduction, adduction, flexion, and revolution） and its limb nerve modulation and control mechanism, the nerves were stimulated under computer control, and the results recorded by CCD. Results suggest that gecko＇s foot movements can be successfully controlled by artificial electrical signals.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 31601870 and 51435008)Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. SBK20160800 to Zhouyi WANG)Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Bionic Functional Materials
文摘Animals have evolved a variety of behavior patterns to adapt to the environment. Motion-capture technology is utilized to quantify and characterize locomotor behaviors to reveal the mechanisms of animal motion. In the capture of flexible, small animals with complex locomotor behaviors, the markers interfere with each other easily, and the motion forms(bending, twisting) of the moving parts are obviously different;thus, it is a great challenge to realize accurate quantitative characterization of complex locomotor behaviors. The correlation between the marker properties, including the size and space length, and the precision of the system are revealed in this paper, and the effects of diverse marker shapes on the capturing accuracy of the captured objects in different motion forms were tested. Results showed that the precision of system is significantly improved when the ratio of the space length to the diameter of the markers is larger than four;for the capture of the spatial twisting motion of the flexible object, the hexagon markers had the lowest spatial lost-marker rate relative to the circle, triangle, and square. Customized markers were used to capture the locomotor behavior of the gecko-inspired robot(rigid connection) and the gecko(flexible connection). The results showed that this marking technology can achieve high accuracy of motion capture for geckos(the average deviation was approximately 0.32 mm, and the average deviation’s variation rate was approximately 0.96%). In this paper, the marking technology for the motion capture of flexible, small animals with complex motion is proposed;it can effectively improve the system precision as well as the capture accuracy, and realize the quantitative characterization of the complex motion of flexible, small objects. It provides a reliable technical means to deeply study the evolution of the motion function of small animals and advance systematic research of motion-capture technology.
基金Projects(51605220,U1637101)supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(BK20160793)supported by the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation,ChinaProject(NS2020029)supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,China。
文摘In order to further improve the driving performance of ionic polymer metal composites(IPMCs),Nafion/graphene quantum dots(GQDs)hybrid membranes incorporating GQDs with various contents of 0,0.1 wt.%,0.5 wt.%,1.0 wt.%,2.0 wt.%and 4.0 wt.%were fabricated by solution casting,and then IPMCs were manufactured by electroless plating.The water contents and elastic moduli of the hybrid membranes were tested.The morphology characteristics of the hybrid membranes and the IPMCs were observed,and the current,AC impedance,blocking force and displacement of the IPMCs were measured.The results show that the elastic modulus of the hybrid membranes decreases,the water content increases,and the actuation performance of the IPMCs improves significantly after the addition of GQDs.IPMC with 1.0 wt.%GQDs exhibits the best driving property.Compared with the IPMC without GQDs,the working current,ion conductivity,blocking force,and tip displacement increase by 94.67%,311.11%,53.66%,and 66.07%,respectively.These results lay a solid foundation for the preparation of IPMCs with high performance,and further broaden their applications in biomedical devices and bionic robots.
基金Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61233014)the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(2012M5210711,20123218110031)the National Natural Science Major International Cooperation Projects(61161120323)
文摘Inspired by the unique structure of insect compound eyes,a multi-channel image acquisition system is designed to photograph a cylindrical panorama of its surroundings with one shot. The hardware structure consists of an embedded ARM system and one array of 16 micro-image sensors. The system achieves the synchronization of captured photos in 10 ms,as well as 10 f /s video capture. The software architecture includes the TCP /IP protocol,video capture procedures in"Poll/Read"or"video streaming"modes,thread pool monitoring in multi-threading mutex,synchronization control with the"event""mutex signal"and"critical region"functions,and a synthetic image algorithm characterized by its portability,modularity,and remote transmission. The panoramic imaging system is expected to be a vision sensor for mobile robotics.
基金This work was supported by the National Key R&D program of China(grant no.2019YFB1309604)National Natural Science of Foundation of China(grant no.51875281,51861135306).
文摘As the basis of flight behavior,the initiation process of insect flight is accompanied by a transition from crawling mode to flight mode,and is clearly important and complex.Insects take flight from a vertical surface,which is more difficult than takeoff from a horizontal plane,but greatly expands the space of activity and provides us with an excellent bionic model.In this study,the entire process of a butterfly alighting from a vertical surface was captured by a high-speed camera system,and the movements of its body and wings were accurately measured for the first time.After analyzing the movement of the center of mass,it was found that before initiation,the acceleration perpendicular to the wall was much greater than the acceleration parallel to the wall,reflecting the positive effects of the legs during the initiation process.However,the angular velocity of the body showed that this process was unstable,and was further destabilized as the flight speed increased.Comparing the angles between the body and the vertical direction before and after leaving the wall,a significant change in body posture was found,evidencing the action of aerodynamic forces on the body.The movement of the wings was further analyzed to obtain the laws of the three Euler angles,thus revealing the locomotory mechanism of the butterfly taking off from the vertical surface.
