Hawk‐eye‐inspired perception algorithm of stereo vision for obtaining orchard 3D point cloud navigation map

The binocular stereo vision is the lowest cost sensor for obtaining 3D information.Considering the weakness of long‐distance measurement and stability,the improvement of accuracy and stability of stereo vision is urgently required for application of precision agriculture.To address the challenges of stereo vision long‐distance measurement and stable perception without hardware upgrade,inspired by hawk eyes,higher resolution perception and the adaptive HDR(High Dynamic Range)were introduced in this paper.Simulating the function from physiological structure of‘deep fovea’and‘shallow fovea’of hawk eye,the higher resolution reconstruction method in this paper was aimed at ac-curacy improving.Inspired by adjustment of pupils,the adaptive HDR method was proposed for high dynamic range optimisation and stable perception.In various light conditions,compared with default stereo vision,the accuracy of proposed algorithm was improved by 28.0%evaluated by error ratio,and the stability was improved by 26.56%by disparity accuracy.For fixed distance measurement,the maximum improvement was 78.6%by standard deviation.Based on the hawk‐eye‐inspired perception algorithm,the point cloud of orchard was improved both in quality and quantity.The hawk‐eye‐inspired perception algorithm contributed great advance in binocular 3D point cloud recon-struction in orchard navigation map.

Biologically Inspired Design of Context-Aware Smart Products

The rapid development of information and communication technologies(ICTs)and cyber-physical systems(CPSs)has paved the way for the increasing popularity of smart products.Context-awareness is an important facet of product smartness.Unlike artifacts,various bio-systems are naturally characterized by their extraordinary context-awareness.Biologically inspired design(BID)is one of the most commonly employed design strategies.However,few studies have examined the BID of context-aware smart products to date.This paper presents a structured design framework to support the BID of context-aware smart products.The meaning of context-awareness is defined from the perspective of product design.The framework is developed based on the theoretical foundations of the situated function-behavior-structure ontology.A structured design process is prescribed to leverage various biological inspirations in order to support different conceptual design activities,such as problem formulation,structure reformulation,behavior reformulation,and function reformulation.Some existing design methods and emerging design tools are incorporated into the framework.A case study is presented to showcase how this framework can be followed to redesign a robot vacuum cleaner and make it more context-aware.

Cascaded quasi-zero stiffness nonlinear low-frequency vibration isolator inspired by human spine

Human motion induced vibration has very low frequency,ranging from 2 Hz to 5 Hz.Traditional vibration isolators are not effective in low-frequency regions due to the trade-off between the low natural frequency and the high load capacity.In this paper,inspired by the human spine,we propose a novel bionic human spine inspired quasi-zero stiffness(QZS)vibration isolator which consists of a cascaded multi-stage negative stiffness structure.The force and stiffness characteristics are investigated first,the dynamic model is established by Newton’s second law,and the isolation performance is analyzed by the harmonic balance method(HBM).Numerical results show that the bionic isolator can obtain better low-frequency isolation performance by increasing the number of negative structure stages,and reducing the damping values and external force values can obtain better low-frequency isolation performance.In comparison with the linear structure and existing traditional QZS isolator,the bionic spine isolator has better vibration isolation performance in low-frequency regions.It paves the way for the design of bionic ultra-low-frequency isolators and shows potential in many engineering applications.

基于Inspired的地板加强件结构优化设计

本文以地板加强件为研究对象,使用CATIA对其建模,并将模型导入到SolidThinking Inspired软件对其在应急着陆前向9G过载条件下,进行拓扑优化,得到了最佳承力结构。最后利用有限元分析手段,对得到的结构进行分析,结果显示优化结果合理。

Golden Ratio-Based and Tapered Diptera Inspired Wings： Their Design and Fabrication Using Standard MEMS Technology

This work presents our understanding of insect wings, and the design and micromachining of artificial wings with golden ratio-based and tapered veins. The geometric anisotwpy of Leading Edge Veins （LEVs） selected by Diptera has a function able to evade impact. As a Diptera example, the elliptic hollow-LEVs of cranefly wings are mechanically and aerodynamically significant. In this paper, an artificial wing was designed to be a fractal structure by mimicking cranefly wings and incorporating cross-veins and discal cell. Standard technologies of Microelectromechanical Systems （MEMS） were employed to materialize the design using the selected material. One SU-8 wing sample, light and stiffenough to be comparable to fresh cranefly wings, was presented. The as-prepared SU-8 wings are faithful to real wings not only in weight and vein pattern, but also in flexural stiffness and mass distribution. Thus our method renders possible mimickine with good lidelity of natural wings with complex geometry and morphology.

Research on Biologically Inspired Hexapod Robot's Gait and Path Planning

Realistically there are many robot joints in the biologically inspired hexapod robot, so they will generate many complexities in the calculations of the gait and the path planning and the control variables. The software Solidworks and MSC. ADAMS are adopted to simulate and analyze the prototype model of the robot. By the simulations used in our design, the applicability of the tripod gait is validated, and the scheme which uses cubic spline curve as the endpoint of foot＇s path is feasible. The principles, methods, and processes of the simulation of hexapod robot are illustrated. A methodology is proposed to get the robot inverse solution in ADAMS, and to simplify the theoretical calculation, and further more to improve the efficiency of the design.

A hierarchical vascularized engineered bone inspired by intramembranous ossification for mandibular regeneration

Mandibular defects caused by injuries,tumors,and infections are common and can severely affect mandibular function and the patient's appearance.However,mandible reconstruction with a mandibular bionic structure remains challenging.Inspired by the process of intramembranous ossification in mandibular development,a hierarchical vascularized engineered bone consisting of angiogenesis and osteogenesis modules has been produced.Moreover,the hierarchical vascular network and bone structure generated by these hierarchical vascularized engineered bone modules match the particular anatomical structure of the mandible.The ultra-tough polyion complex has been used as the basic scaffold for hierarchical vascularized engineered bone for ensuring better reconstruction of mandible function.According to the results of in vivo experiments,the bone regenerated using hierarchical vascularized engineered bone is similar to the natural mandibular bone in terms of morphology and genomics.The sonic hedgehog signaling pathway is specifically activated in hierarchical vascularized engineered bone,indicating that the new bone in hierarchical vascularized engineered bone underwent a process of intramembranous ossification identical to that of mandible development.Thus,hierarchical vascularized engineered bone has a high potential for clinical application in mandibular defect reconstruction.Moreover,the concept based on developmental processes and bionic structures provides an effective strategy for tissue regeneration.

The Design Characteristics of Innovative Nature-Inspired Architecture for Building Design

This paper analyses what is the concept of nature inspiration in relation to the innovative design of buildings, and the design characteristics of innovative design as well as the harmonious interactions of the past and the future in urban regeneration. This is with the aim of determining how to acquire inspirations from nature, and how to subsequently apply the visual or conceptual nature-inspired designs. Such nature-inspired designs seek to exploit the new concepts of biophilic design, such as bio-eco-friendly sustainable processes, creative designs, and systems which can be used to improve the urban environment. The goal of this research is to uncover out ways by which to apply new ideas inspired by nature for an innovative building design.

Natures Buildings as Trees: Biologically Inspired Glass as an Energy System

The adaptive capacity in creating intelligent glass surfaces will be investigated using the principles of solar absorbance and active fluidic conductivity management as an energy system. To act as a thermal adsorption layer by applying bio-logically inspired engineering aims, of capture in enabling thermal transfer and control to regulate material composition. The creation of an adaptive cooling layer, by responsive measures to mirror our eco-systems through the employment of programmable self-awareness measures to regulate solar adsorption. These strategies for adaptation could enable the transformation of tall buildings, from mere material entities to mimic the intelligent surfaces of trees. Nature’s eco-systems are living multi-functional mechanical information systems of chemical composition forming hierarchical structures. They have the ability to learn and adapt to changing climatic circumstance by self-regulation of solar adsorption, to achieve material thermal management. These programmable controls of adaptive material performance change in relationship to solar capture. Could this be harnessed to exploit the functionalities and behavior of materials on the surfaces of buildings to act as an energy system, by the application of bio-logically inspired engineering aims: 1) Material absorbency: thermal conductivity adsorption of solar irradiance. 2) Adaptive real-time performance: material autonomy.

Identification and Control of Hyperchaotic Lorenz System Based on Quantum Inspired PSO and Wavelet Neural Network

For the identification and control problem of hyperchaotic Lorenz system,a method of feedback compensation control based on quantum inspired PSO and wavelet neural network(PSOQI-Wavelet Neural Network)is proposed.Firstly,the quantum principle obtained from Quantum PSO(QPSO)has been combined with standard PSO to form a new hybrid algorithm called PSO with Quantum Infusion(PSO-QI).Then,the parameters of wavelet neural network were optimized with PSO-QI and feedback compensation control for hyperchaotic Lorenz system is implemented using optimized PSOQI-Wavelet Neural Network.The numerical simulation results showed that this method has better precision and can quickly track given hyperchaotic Lorenz system.

BIO‐inspired fuzzy inference system—For physiological signal analysis

When a person's neuromuscular system is affected by an injury or disease,Activities‐for‐Daily‐Living(ADL),such as gripping,turning,and walking,are impaired.Electroen-cephalography(EEG)and Electromyography(EMG)are physiological signals generated by a body during neuromuscular activities embedding the intentions of the subject,and they are used in Brain–Computer Interface(BCI)or robotic rehabilitation systems.However,existing BCI or robotic rehabilitation systems use signal classification technique limitations such as(1)missing temporal correlation of the EEG and EMG signals in the entire window and(2)overlooking the interrelationship between different sensors in the system.Furthermore,typical existing systems are designed to operate based on the presence of dominant physiological signals associated with certain actions;(3)their effectiveness will be greatly reduced if subjects are disabled in generating the dominant signals.A novel classification model,named BIOFIS is proposed,which fuses signals from different sensors to generate inter‐channel and intra‐channel relationships.It ex-plores the temporal correlation of the signals within a timeframe via a Long Short‐Term Memory(LSTM)block.The proposed architecture is able to classify the various subsets of a full‐range arm movement that performs actions such as forward,grip and raise,lower and release,and reverse.The system can achieve 98.6%accuracy for a 4‐way action using EEG data and 97.18%accuracy using EMG data.Moreover,even without the dominant signal,the accuracy scores were 90.1%for the EEG data and 85.2%for the EMG data.The proposed mechanism shows promise in the design of EEG/EMG‐based use in the medical device and rehabilitation industries.

A Variable Stiffness Soft Gripper Using Granular Jamming and Biologically Inspired Pneumatic Muscles

As the domains, in which robots operate change the objects a robot may be required to grasp and manipulate, are likely to vary sig- nificantly and often. Furthermore there is increasing likelihood that in the future robots will work collaboratively alongside people. There has therefore been interest in the development of biologically inspired robot designs which take inspiration from nature. This paper pre- sents the design and testing of a variable stiffness, three fingered soft gripper, which uses pneumatic muscles to actuate the fingers and granular jamming to vary their stiffness. This gripper is able to adjust its stiffness depending upon how fragile/deformable the object being grasped is. It is also lightweight and low inertia, making it better suited to operation near people. Each finger is formed from a cylindrical rubber bladder filled with a granular material. It is shown how decreasing the pressure inside the finger increases the jamming effect and raises finger stiffness. The paper shows experimentally how the finger stiffness can be increased from 21 N·m^-1 to 71 N·m^-1. The paper also describes the kinematics of the fingers and demonstrates how they can be position-controlled at a range of different stiffness values.

Survey of locomotion control of legged robots inspired by biological concept

Compared with wheeled mobile robots, legged robots can easily step over obstacles and walk through rugged ground. They have more flexible bodies and therefore, can deal with complex environment. Nevertheless, some other issues make the locomotion control of legged robots a much complicated task, such as the redundant degree of freedoms and balance keeping. From literatures, locomotion control has been solved mainly based on programming mechanism. To use this method, walking trajectories for each leg and the gaits have to be designed, and the adaptability to an unknown environment cannot be guaranteed. From another aspect, studying and simulating animals＇ walking mechanism for engineering application is an efficient way to break the bottleneck of locomotion control for legged robots. This has attracted more and more attentions. Inspired by central pattern generator （CPG）, a control method has been proved to be a successful attempt within this scope. In this paper, we will review the biological mechanism, the existence evidences, and the network properties of CPG. From the en- gineering perspective, we will introduce the engineering simulation of CPG, the property analysis, and the research progress of CPG inspired control method in locomotion control of legged robots. Then, in our research, we will further discuss on existing problems, hot issues, and future research directions in this field.

Multi-objective clustering analysis via combinatorial pigeon inspired optimization

Multi-objective data clustering is an important issue in data mining, and the realization of data clustering using the multiobjective optimization technique is a significant topic. A combinatorial multi-objective pigeon inspired optimization(CMOPIO)with ring topology is proposed to solve the clustering problem in this paper. In the CMOPIO, a delta-locus based coding approach is employed to encode the pigeons. Thus, the length of pigeon representation and the dimension of the search space are significantly reduced. Thereby, the computational load can be effectively depressed. In this way, the pigeon inspired optimization(PIO) algorithm can be discretized with an auxiliary vector to address data clustering. Moreover, an index-based ring topology with the ability of contributing to maintain flock diversity is adopted to improve the CMOPIO performance. Comparative simulation results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of our proposed CMOPIO for solving data clustering problems.

Gaussian pigeon-inspired optimization approach to orbital spacecraft formation reconfiguration

With the rapid development of space technology, orbital spacecraft formation has received great attention from international and domestic academics and industry. Compared with a single monolithic, the orbital spacecraft formation system has many advantages. This paper presents an improved pigeon-inspired optimization（PIO） algorithm for solving the optimal formation reconfiguration problems of multiple orbital spacecraft. Considering that the uniform distribution random searching system in PIO has its own weakness, a modified PIO model adopting Gaussian strategy is presented and the detailed process is also given. Comparative experiments with basic PIO and particle swarm optimization（PSO） are conducted, and the results have verified the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed Gaussian PIO（GPIO） in solving orbital spacecraft formation reconfiguration problems.

Biologically inspired silk fibroin grafted polyacrylonitrile filtration membrane prepared in ZnCl_2 aqueous solution

In this study, biologically inspired silk fibroin grafted polyacrylonitrile(SF-g-PAN) filtration membrane was prepared using ZnCl_2 aqueous solution as solvent, avoiding the use of organic solvents. Phase inversion occurred when Zn^(2+)and Cl-ions gradually diffused into water, creating a well-connected ion channel network and the SF-g-PAN filtration membrane was obtained. The membranes were observed by SEM and 3D ultra-depth microscope. The hydrophilic property, pore size distribution and dye rejection of the membrane were investigated. Results showed that the membrane has no finger hole formation because ZnCl_2 aqueous solution has a lower curing rate parameter compared with organic solvents. SF-gPAN membrane possessed good anti-fouling properties and pH sensitivity. The pore size distribution of the SF-g-PAN membrane was 0.25–1.04 nm. The rejection of direct yellow 27(Mw = 662.6) and amaranth(Mw = 604.5) was 96.51% and 30.63%, with the flux of 72.32 L m^(-2) h^(-1) and 73.83 L m^(-2) h^(-1) respectively at0.1 MPa. The SF-g-PAN membrane has a wide range of applications prospect in fine separation, dye desalination, waste water treatment and biomedical fields.

A quantum inspired genetic algorithm for multimodal optimization of wind disturbance alleviation flight control system

This paper develops a Quantum-inspired Genetic Algorithm(QGA) to find the sets of optimal parameters for the wind disturbance alleviation Flight Control System(FCS). To search the problem domain more evenly and uniformly, the lattice rule based stratification method is used to create new chromosomes. The chromosomes are coded and updated according to quantuminspired strategies. A niching method is used to ensure every chromosome can converge to its corresponding local minimum in the optimization process. A parallel archive system is adopted to monitor the chromosomes on-line and save all potential feasible solutions in the optimization process. An adaptive search strategy is used to gradually adjust the search domain of each niche to finally approach the local minima. The solutions found by the QGA are compared with some other Multimodal Optimization(MO) algorithms and are tested on the FCS of the Boeing 747 to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

面向增材制造技术的四旋翼无人机底座拓扑优化设计

利用Inspire软件对四旋翼无人机底座进行拓扑优化和轻量化设计。首先根据逆向工程技术得到四旋翼无人机底座的三维模型,然后将三维模型导入到Inspire软件进行有限元分析和拓扑优化。结果显示:无人机底座优化前的质量为66.158 g(材料ABS),通过轻量化设计之后的质量为30.218 g,实现了54.32%的减重,同时,最大米塞斯等效应力为3.213MPa,最大位移为0.190 9 mm,最小安全系数为14,减重后的性能满足要求。最后利用3D打印方法将优化后的底座打印出来,并试验验证了拓扑优化方法的合理性和可行性。

Creative design inspired by biological knowledge:Technologies and methods

Biological knowledge is becoming an important source of inspiration for developing creative solutions to engineering design problems and even has a huge potential in formulating ideas that can help firms compete successfully in a dynamic market.To identify the technologies and methods that can facilitate the development ofbiologically inspired creative designs,this research briefly reviews the existing biological-knowledge-based theories and methods and examines the application of biological-knowledge-inspired designs in various fields.Afterward,this research thoroughly examines the four dimensions of key technologies that underlie the biologically inspired design(BID)process.This research then discusses the future development trends of the BID process before presenting the conclusions.

Bio-inspired design of alternate rigid-flexible segments to improve the stiffness of a continuum manipulator

Intrinsic flexible structures enable a continuum manipulator to exhibit attractive dexterity and intrinsic compliance over traditional hyper-redundant robots.However,its insufficient stiffness makes the performance of continuum manipulators unsatisfactory and thus limits the applications in many fields.A significant challenge is how to make a trade-off among dexterity,compliance and stiffness.From an evolutionary perspective,this paper compares several biological structures that enable the continuum manipulator function,and intends to reveal the mechanism on how the biological structures can improve the stiffness.The notochord and the vertebral column with acoelous centra are abstracted and physically implemented.A fundamental roddriven continuum manipulator is also introduced as a comparison.The stiffness models of these three continuum manipulators are proposed,and comparative experiments are conducted to verify their stiffness properties.Our results demonstrate that the rigid-flexible segmental structure can improve the stiffness properties of a continuum manipulator.