Significance and Progress of Bionics

The four topics are described including the driving force and source of the scientific and technological creation, the definition and history of the bionics, the important significance of bionics in the development of the human beings, and the leading edge and progress of bionics. The appetency of human for the creation is the essential motivity of the innovation in science and technology. Nature and society are the objects for us to cognize and serve, meanwhile, the best teachers for us to learn from them. It is only 5 million years for human's development, but evolution of life has over 3.5 billion years history. Although, copying the creation from the human being is important, however, it has much more potential and opportunity in imitating the nature, and more possibility to promote the ability of original innovation. The significance and progress of bionics are summarized, in this paper, and the leading edges of bionics, in the near future, are forecasted.

Max-Min Adaptive Ant Colony Optimization Approach to Multi-UAVs Coordinated Trajectory Replanning in Dynamic and Uncertain Environments

Multiple Uninhabited Aerial Vehicles (multi-UAVs) coordinated trajectory replanning is one of the most complicated global optimum problems in multi-UAVs coordinated control. Based on the construction of the basic model of multi-UAVs coordinated trajectory replanning, which includes problem description, threat modeling, constraint conditions, coordinated function and coordination mechanism, a novel Max-Min adaptive Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) approach is presented in detail. In view of the characteristics of multi-UAVs coordinated trajectory replanning in dynamic and uncertain environments, the minimum and maximum pheromone trails in ACO are set to enhance the searching capability, and the point pheromone is adopted to achieve the collision avoidance between UAVs at the trajectory planner layer. Considering the simultaneous arrival and the air-space collision avoidance, an Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) is decided first. Then the trajectory and flight velocity of each UAV are determined. Simulation experiments are performed under the complicated combating environment containing some static threats and popup threats. The results demonstrate the feasibility and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Kinematics Modeling and Experiments of Pectoral Oscillation Propulsion Robotic Fish

A robotic fish driven by oscillating fins, 'Cownose Ray-I', is developed, which is in dorsoventrally flattened shape without a tail. The robotic fish is composed of a body and two lateral fins. A three-factor kinematic model is established and used in the design of a mechanism. By controlling the three kinematic parameters, the robotic fish can accelerate and maneuver. Forward velocity is dependent on the largest amplitude and the number of waves in the fins, while the relative contribution of fin beat frequency to the forward velocity of the robotic fish is different from the usual result. On the other hand, experimental results on maneuvering show that phase difference has a stronger effect on swerving than the largest amplitude to some extent. In addition, as propulsion waves pass from the trailing edge to the leading edge, the robotic fish attains a backward velocity of 0. 15 m·s^(-1).

Super-hydrophobic characteristics of butterfly wing surface

Many biological surface are hydrophobic because of their complicated composition and surface microstructure. Eleven species (four families) of butterflies were selected to study their micro-, nano-structure and super-hydrophobic characteristic by means of Confocal Light Microscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Contact Angle Measurement. The contact an- gles of water droplets on the butterfly wing surface were consistently measured to be about 150 ? and 100 ? with and without the squamas, respectively. The dust on the surface can be easily cleaned by moving spherical droplets when the inclining angle is larger than 3 ?. It can be concluded that the butterfly wing surface possess a super-hydrophobic, water-repellent, self-cleaning, or “Lotus-effect”characteristic. The contact angle measurement of water droplets on the wing surface with and without the squamas showed that the water-repellent characteristic is a consequence of the microstructure of the squamas. Each water droplet (diameter 2 mm) can cover about 700 squamas with a size of 40 m×80 m of each squama. The regular riblets with a width of 1000 nm to 1500 nm are clearly observed on each single squama. Such nanostructure should play a very important role in their super-hydrophobic and self-cleaning characteristic.

Rapid Identification of Rice Samples Using an Electronic Nose

Four rice samples of long grain type were tested using an electronic nose (Cyranose-320).Samples of 5 g of each variety of rice were placed individually in vials and were analyzed with the electronic nose unit consisting of 32 polymer sensors.The Cyranose-320 was able to differentiate between varieties of rice.The chemical composition of the rice odors for differentiating rice samples needs to be investigated.The optimum parameter settings should be considered during the Cyranose-320 training process especially for multiple samples,which are helpful for obtaining an accurate training model to improve identification capability.Further,it is necessary to investigate the E-nose sensor selection for obtaining better classification accuracy.A re- duced number of sensors could potentially shorten the data processing time,and could be used to establish an application pro- cedure and reduce the cost for a specific electronic nose.Further research is needed for developing analytical procedures that adapt the Cyranose-320 as a tool for testing rice quality.

Lightweight Design and Verification of Gantry Machining Center Crossbeam Based on Structural Bionics

The lightweight and high efficiency of natural structures are the inexhaustible sources for engineering improvements. The goal of the study is to find innovative solutions for mechanical lightweight design through the application of structural bionic approaches. Giant waterlily leaf ribs and cactus stem are investigated for their optimal framework and superior performance. Their structural characteristics are extracted and used in the bio-inspired design of Lin MC6000 gantry machining center crossbeam. By mimicking analogous network structure, the bionic model is established, which has better load-carrying capacity than conventional distribution. Finite Element Method （FEM） is used for numerical simulation. Results show better specific stiffness of the bionic model, which is increased by 17.36%. Finally the scaled models are fabricated by precision casting for static and dynamic tests. The physical experiments are compared to numerical simulation. The results show that the maximum static deformation of the bionic model is reduced by about 16.22%, with 3.31% weight reduction. In addition, the first four natural frequencies are improved obviously. The structural bionic design is a valuable reference for updating conventional mechanical structures with better performance and less material consumption.

Elastic Buckling of Bionic Cylindrical Shells Based on Bamboo

High load-bearing efficiency is one of the advantages of biological structures after the evolution of billions of years. Biomimicking from nature may offer the potential for lightweight design. In the viewpoint ofrnechanics properties, the culm of bamboo comprises of two types of cells and the number of the vascular bundles takes a gradient of distribution. A three-point bending test was carried out to measure the elastic modulus. Results show that the elastic modulus of bamboo decreases gradually from the periphery towards the centre. Based on the structural characteristics of bamboo, a bionic cylindrical structure was designed to mimic the gradient distribution of vascular bundles and parenchyma cells. The buckling resistance of the bionic structure was compared with that of a traditional shell of equal mass under axial pressure by finite element simulations. Results show that the load-bearing capacity of bionic shell is increased by 124.8%. The buckling mode of bionic structure is global buckling while that of the conventional shell is local buckling.

Design and Experiments of a Robotic Fish Imitating Cow-Nosed Ray

The cow-nosed ray is studied as natural sample of a flapping-foil robotic fish.Body structure, motion discipline, and dynamicfoil deformation of cow-nosed ray are analyzed.Based on the analysis results, a robotic fish imitating cow-nosed ray,named Robo-ray Ⅱ, mainly composed of soft body, flexible ribs and pneumatic artificial muscles, is developed.Structure andswimming morphology of the robotic prototype are as that of a normal cow-nosed ray in nature.Key propulsion parameters ofRobo-ray Ⅱ at normal conditions, including the St Number at linear swimming, thrust coefficient at towing are studied throughexperiments.The suitable driving parameters are confirmed considering the efficiency and swimming velocity.Swimmingvelocity of 0.16 m·s’and thrust coefficient of 0.56 in maximum are achieved in experiments.

Using a Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensor for Rapid Detection of Salmonella Typhimurium in Chicken Carcass

Chicken is one of the most popular meat products in the world. Salmonella Typhimurium is a common foodbome pathogens associated with the processing of poultry. An optical Surface Plasmon Resonance （SPR） biosensor was sensitive to the presence of Salmonella Typhimurium in chicken carcass. The Spreeta biosensor kits were used to detect Salmonella Typhimurium on chicken carcass successfully. A taste sensor like electronic tongue or biosensors was used to basically ＂taste＂ the object and differentiated one object from the other with different taste sensor signatures. The surface plasmon resonance biosensor has potential for use in rapid, real-time detection and identification of bacteria, and to study the interaction of organisms with dif- ferent antisera or other molecular species. The selectivity of the SPR biosensor was assayed using a series of antibody con- centrations and dilution series of the organism. The SPR biosensor showed promising to detect the existence of Salmonella Typhimurium at 1 x 106 CFU/ml. Initial results show that the SPR biosensor has the potential for its application in pathogenic bacteria monitoring. However, more tests need to be done to confirm the detection limitation.

Development of a PWM Precision Spraying Controller for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper presents a new Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) controller for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) precisionsprayer for agriculture using a TL494 fixed-frequency pulse width modulator together with a data acquisition board and developedsoftware. An UAV can be remotely controlled or flown autonomously by pre-programmed flight plans. The PWMcontroller was implemented through the guidance system on the UAV with control commands sent between the UAV helicopterand the ground control station via a wireless telemetry system. The PWM controller was tested and validated using LabVIEW8.2. Several analyses were performed in a laboratory to test different control signals. The results show that the PWM controllerhas promise as a higher precision technique for spray applications, which will improve efficiency of pesticide application,especially in crop production areas.

Design Principles of the Non-smooth Surface of Bionic Plow Moldboard

The diverse non-smooth body surfaces to reduce soil adhesion are the evolutional results for the soil animals to fit the adhesive and wet environment and can be used as a biological basis for the design of bionic plow moldboard. The model surfaces for bionic simulation should be taken from soil animal digging organs, on which the soil motion is similar to what is on the surface of moldboard. By analyzing the distribution of non-smooth units on the body surface of the ground beetle jaw and the soil moving stresses, the design principles of the bionic moldboard for the local and the whole moldboard were presented respectively. As well, the effect of soil moving speed on reducing adhesion, the dimensions relationship between soil particles and non-smooth convexes, the relationship between the enveloping surface of non-smooth convexes and the initial smooth surface of the plow body, and the convex types of the sphere coronal and the pangolin scales,etc.were discussed.

Computational Research on Modular Undulating Fin for Biorobotic Underwater Propulsor

Biomimetic design employs the principles of nature to solve engineering problems. Such designs which are hoped to be quick, efficient, robust, and versatile, have taken advantage of optimization via natural selection. In the present research, an environment-friendly propulsion system mimicking undulating fins of stingray was built. A non-conventional method was considered to model the flexibility of the fins of stingray. A two-degree-of-freedom mechanism comprised of several linkages was designed and constructed to mimic the actual flexible fin, The driving linkages were used to form a mechanical fin consisting of several fin segments, which are able tO produce undulations, similar to those produced by the actual fins. Owing to the modularity of the design of the mechanical fin, various undulating patterns can be realized. Some qualitative observations, obtained by experiments, predicted that the thrusts produced by the mechanical fin are different among various undulating patterns. To fully understand this experimental phenomenon is very important for better performance and energy saving for our biorobotic underwater propulsion system. Here, four basic undulating patterns of the mechanical fin were performed using two-dimensional unsteady computational fluid dynamics （CFD） method. An unstructured, grid-based, unsteady Navier-Stokes solver with automatic adaptive re-meshing was used to compute the unsteady flow around the fin through twenty complete cycles. The pressure distribution on fin surface was computed and integrated to provide fin forces which were decomposed into rift and thrust. The pressure force and friction force were also computed throughout the swimming cycle. Finally, vortex contour maps of these four basic fin undulating patterns were displayed and compared.