Soft robots have tremendous potential for applications in various fields,owing to their safety and flexibility embedded at the material level.Soft robots,especially bio-inspired soft legged robots,have become one of t...Soft robots have tremendous potential for applications in various fields,owing to their safety and flexibility embedded at the material level.Soft robots,especially bio-inspired soft legged robots,have become one of the most active fields of current research in robotics thanks to their superior mobility and ability to face complex terrains.However,it is arduous to establish a dynamic simulation model for soft robots,owing to their hyper-redundant degrees of freedom,hyper-elasticity,and nonlinearity of their soft structures.In this study,we designed,simulated,and fabricated a hexapod robot that achieves walking,crawling,pronking,and rolling with wheeled legs plus a soft body capable of shape change.A robot prototype was fabricated using 3D printing technology and soft silicone pneumatic networks.Actuators,battery power,and control boards were integrated into the body of the robot for untethered locomotion.We have explored the capabilities of the robot in different conditions,especially in scenarios that simulate lunar and Martian environments,demonstrating the motion performance of the robot.The results have shown promising potentials of the developed robot for future applications in planetary lava tube exploration.Our experimental and simulation results also show good agreements that indicate the potential predictive roles of simulation tools for soft robot design,planning,and control.展开更多
The great success of the Sojourner rover in the Mars Pathfinder mission set off a global upsurge of planetary exploration with autonomous wheeled mobile robots(WMRs),or rovers.Planetary WMRs are among the most intelli...The great success of the Sojourner rover in the Mars Pathfinder mission set off a global upsurge of planetary exploration with autonomous wheeled mobile robots(WMRs),or rovers.Planetary WMRs are among the most intelligent space systems that combine robotic intelligence(robint),virtual intelligence(virtint),and human intelligence(humint) synergetically.This article extends the architecture of the three-layer intelligence stemming from successful Mars rovers and related technologies in order to support the R&D of future tele-operated robotic systems.Double-layer human-machine interfaces are suggested to support the integration of humint from scientists and engineers through supervisory(Mars rovers) or three-dimensional(3D) predictive direct tele-operation(lunar rovers).The concept of multilevel autonomy to realize robint,in particular,the Coupled-Layer Architecture for Robotic Autonomy developed for Mars rovers,is introduced.The challenging issues of intelligent perception(proprioception and exteroception),navigation,and motion control of rovers are discussed,where the terrains' mechanical properties and wheel-terrain interaction mechanics are considered to be key.Double-level virtual simulation architecture to realize virtint is proposed.Key technologies of virtint are summarized:virtual planetary terrain modeling,virtual intelligent rover,and wheel-terrain interaction mechanics.This generalized three-layer intelligence framework is also applicable to other systems that require human intervention,such as space robotic arms,robonauts,unmanned deep-sea vehicles,and rescue robots,particularly when there is considerable time delay.展开更多
基金supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No.2019YFB1309500)the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.91948202 and 51822502)the support of the Royal Society through the International Exchange Grant (IECNSFC211316) with the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)。
文摘Soft robots have tremendous potential for applications in various fields,owing to their safety and flexibility embedded at the material level.Soft robots,especially bio-inspired soft legged robots,have become one of the most active fields of current research in robotics thanks to their superior mobility and ability to face complex terrains.However,it is arduous to establish a dynamic simulation model for soft robots,owing to their hyper-redundant degrees of freedom,hyper-elasticity,and nonlinearity of their soft structures.In this study,we designed,simulated,and fabricated a hexapod robot that achieves walking,crawling,pronking,and rolling with wheeled legs plus a soft body capable of shape change.A robot prototype was fabricated using 3D printing technology and soft silicone pneumatic networks.Actuators,battery power,and control boards were integrated into the body of the robot for untethered locomotion.We have explored the capabilities of the robot in different conditions,especially in scenarios that simulate lunar and Martian environments,demonstrating the motion performance of the robot.The results have shown promising potentials of the developed robot for future applications in planetary lava tube exploration.Our experimental and simulation results also show good agreements that indicate the potential predictive roles of simulation tools for soft robot design,planning,and control.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.61370033)National Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2013CB035502)+4 种基金Foundation of Chinese State Key Laboratory of Robotics and Systems(Grant Nos.SKLRS201401A01,SKLRS-2014-MS-06)the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant No.HIT.BRETIII.201411)Harbin Talent Programme for Distinguished Young Scholars(No.2014RFYXJ001)Postdoctoral Youth Talent Foundation of Heilongjiang Province,China(Grant No.LBH-TZ0403)the"111 Project"(Grant No.B07018)
文摘The great success of the Sojourner rover in the Mars Pathfinder mission set off a global upsurge of planetary exploration with autonomous wheeled mobile robots(WMRs),or rovers.Planetary WMRs are among the most intelligent space systems that combine robotic intelligence(robint),virtual intelligence(virtint),and human intelligence(humint) synergetically.This article extends the architecture of the three-layer intelligence stemming from successful Mars rovers and related technologies in order to support the R&D of future tele-operated robotic systems.Double-layer human-machine interfaces are suggested to support the integration of humint from scientists and engineers through supervisory(Mars rovers) or three-dimensional(3D) predictive direct tele-operation(lunar rovers).The concept of multilevel autonomy to realize robint,in particular,the Coupled-Layer Architecture for Robotic Autonomy developed for Mars rovers,is introduced.The challenging issues of intelligent perception(proprioception and exteroception),navigation,and motion control of rovers are discussed,where the terrains' mechanical properties and wheel-terrain interaction mechanics are considered to be key.Double-level virtual simulation architecture to realize virtint is proposed.Key technologies of virtint are summarized:virtual planetary terrain modeling,virtual intelligent rover,and wheel-terrain interaction mechanics.This generalized three-layer intelligence framework is also applicable to other systems that require human intervention,such as space robotic arms,robonauts,unmanned deep-sea vehicles,and rescue robots,particularly when there is considerable time delay.
