Bionic lightweight design of limb leg units for hydraulic quadruped robots by additive manufacturing and topology optimization

Galloping cheetahs,climbing mountain goats,and load hauling horses all show desirable locomotion capability,which motivates the development of quadruped robots.Among various quadruped robots,hydraulically driven quadruped robots show great potential in unstructured environments due to their discrete landing positions and large payloads.As the most critical movement unit of a quadruped robot,the limb leg unit(LLU)directly affects movement speed and reliability,and requires a compact and lightweight design.Inspired by the dexterous skeleton–muscle systems of cheetahs and humans,this paper proposes a highly integrated bionic actuator system for a better dynamic performance of an LLU.We propose that a cylinder barrel with multiple element interfaces and internal smooth channels is realized using metal additive manufacturing,and hybrid lattice structures are introduced into the lightweight design of the piston rod.In addition,additive manufacturing and topology optimization are incorporated to reduce the redundant material of the structural parts of the LLU.The mechanical properties of the actuator system are verified by numerical simulation and experiments,and the power density of the actuators is far greater than that of cheetah muscle.The mass of the optimized LLU is reduced by 24.5%,and the optimized LLU shows better response time performance when given a step signal,and presents a good trajectory tracking ability with the increase in motion frequency.

Dynamic Bending of Bionic Flexible Body Driven by Pneumatic Artificial Muscles(PAMs) for Spinning Gait of Quadruped Robot

The body of quadruped robot is generally developed with the rigid structure. The mobility of quadruped robot depcnds on the mechanical properties of the body mechanism, It is difficult for quadruped robot with rigid structure to achieve better mobility walking or running in the unstructured environment. A kind of bionic flexible body mechanism for quadruped robot is proposed, which is composed of one bionic spine and four pneumatic artificial muscles（PAMs）. This kind of body imitates the four-legged creatures＇ kinematical structure and physical properties, which has the characteristic of changeable stiff＇hess, lightweight, flexible and better bionics. The kinematics of body bending is derived, and the coordinated movement between the flexible body and legs is analyzed. The relationship between the body bending angle and the PAM length is obtained. The dynamics of the body bending is derived by the floating coordinate method and Lagrangian method, and the driving tbrce of PAM is determined. The experiment of body bending is conductcd, and the dynamic bending characteristic of bionic flexible body is evaluated. Experimental results show that the bending angle of the bionic flexible body can reach 18. An innovation body mechanism for quadruped robot is proposed, which has the characteristic of flexibility and achieve bending by changing gas pressure of PAMs. The coordinated movement of the body and legs can achieve spinning gait in order to improve the mobility of quadruped robot.

Bionic Mechanism and Kinematics Analysis of Hopping Robot Inspired by Locust Jumping

A flexible-rigid hopping mechanism which is inspired by the locust jumping was proposed, and its kinematic characteris- tics were analyzed. A series of experiments were conducted to observe locust morphology and jumping process. According to classic mechanics, the jumping process analysis was conducted to build the relationship of the locust jumping parameters. The take-offphase was divided into four stages in detail. Based on the biological observation and kinematics analysis, a mechanical model was proposed to simulate locust jumping. The forces of the flexible-rigid hopping mechanism at each stage were ana- lyzed. The kinematic analysis using pseudo-rigid-body model was described by D-H method. It is confirmed that the proposed bionic mechanism has the similar performance as the locust hind leg in hopping. Moreover, the jumping angle which decides the jumping process was discussed, and its relation with other parameters was established. A calculation case analysis corroborated the method. The results of this paper show that the proposed bionic mechanism which is inspired by the locust hind limb has an excellent kinematics performance, which can provide a foundation for design and motion planning of the hopping robot.

Motor Driving Leg Design for Bionic Crab-like Robot

The paper presents the design of walking leg for bionics crab-like robot, which is driven with micro servo motor. The kinematic characteristics of the bionics machine are analysed for optimized structure parameters, which has been used in the robot design. A three closed loop motor control system structure for joint driver is also given, as well as the multi-joint driving system for walking robot leg.

Analysis on pivot turning of quadruped robot with bionic flexible body driven by the PAMs

The pivot turning function of quadruped bionic robots can improve their mobility in unstructured environment.A kind of bionic flexible body mechanism for quadruped robot was proposed in this paper,which is composed of one bionic spine and four pneumatic artificial muscles(PAMs).The coordinated movement of the bionic flexible body and the leg mechanism can achieve pivot turning gait.First,the pivot turning gait planning of quadruped robot was analyzed,and the coordinated movement sequence chart of pivot turning was presented.Then the kinematics modeling of leg side swing and body bending for pivot turning was derived,which should meet the condition of the coordinated movement between bionic flexible body and leg mechanism.The PAM experiment was conducted to analyze its contraction characteristic.The study on pivot turning of the quadruped robot will lay a theoretical foundation for the further research on dynamic walking stability of the quadruped robot in unstructured environment.

Stability margin of the quadruped bionic robot with spinning gait

Spinning gait is valuable for quadruped robot,which can be used to avoid obstacles quickly for robot walking in unstructured environment. A kind of bionic flexible body is presented for quadruped robot to perform the spinning gait. The spinning gait can be achieved by coordinated movement of body laterally bending and legs swing,which can improve the mobility of robot walking in the unstructured environments. The coordinated movement relationship between the body and the leg mechanism is presented. The stability of quadruped robot with spinning gait is analyzed based on the center of gravity( COG) projection method. The effect of different body bending angle on the stability of quadruped robot with spinning gait is mainly studied. For the quadruped robot walking with spinning gait,during one spinning gait cycle,the supporting polygon and the trajectory of COG projection point under different body bending angle are calculated. Finally,the stability margin of quadruped robot with spinning gait under different body bending angle is determined,which can be used to evaluate reasonableness of spinning gait parameters.

Modelling of thrust generated by oscillation caudal fin of underwater bionic robot

A simplified model of the thrust force is proposed based on a caudal fin oscillation of an underwater bionic robot. The caudal fin oscillation is generalized by cen- tral pattern generators （CPGs）. In this model, the drag coefficient and lift coefficient are the two critical parameters which are obtained by the digital particle image velocimetry （DPIV） and the force transducer experiment. Numerical simulation and physical experi- ments have been performed to verify this dynamic model.

Planning on Bionic Walking Gait of Quadruped Robot over Rough Terrain

A quadruped robot is more adjustable to a complex terrain than a wheeled or caterpillar robot to realize the continuous adjustable motions characterized by submissiveness and low energy consumption in basic control of the quadruped robot over rough terrain. This paper presents a static walking mode of ＂altitude hold＂, which means to keep absolute altitude by controlling limbs adjustably on the basis of which biokinetics studies have shown that quadrupeds can move with almost the same body altitude over rough terrains characterized by a nearly horizontal relief. The gait design specifies several characteristic states of stance phase and swing phase for a quadruped robot and controls the phase sequence and phase of four legs through change of characteristic states. Furthermore, we design a robot control system to generate adjustable gaits and control the coordinative movement of robot joints. This planning method is tested through ADAMS and MATLAB interactive co-simulation; the quadruped robot which has 8 degrees of freedom （8-DOF） is used to simulate the motion over a terrain character- ized by randomly arranged humps. The results show that this method can make the quadruped robot capable to walk over certain rough terrain.

四足机器人腾空跳跃的轨迹优化与控制方法

针对四足机器人难以跨越大尺寸障碍物的问题,提出了一种仿生腾空跳跃的轨迹优化控制方法 .首先,对马里努阿犬的越障运动进行测试和仿生学分析,得到腾空跳跃的参考轨迹.其次,根据摩擦锥、轨迹平滑、运动学和动力学等约束条件,基于轨迹优化的方法对仿生参考轨迹进行离线优化,生成四足机器人的期望跳跃轨迹,得到跳跃所需的足端位置、关节力矩和关节角度序列.再次,设计分阶段的跳跃控制器,采用关节和质心PD(Proportional Derivative)的组合控制策略,实现对期望跳跃轨迹的跟踪,采用变刚度虚拟模型控制实现对落地姿态的调整和足底力的缓冲.最后,在Webots仿真环境中完成了1 m高度的自由落地和跳跃0.75 m高度桌子的仿真实验.研究结果表明:仿生轨迹优化与控制算法能够使四足机器人跳跃大尺寸障碍物并且具有平稳落地的效果,对于提高四足机器人的高性能运动能力以及拓展其应用环境具有参考价值.

仿生六足折纸机器人结构设计与运动分析

针对现有折纸机器人组成结构单一,运动不够灵活的问题,将折纸结构与多足机器人设计相结合,耦合三浦折纸和六折痕折纸,提出新型的仿螃蟹六足折纸机器人设计方案,扩展了折纸机器人的运动构型,提升了折纸机器人的运动灵活性.在面对称假设下,该机器人单足具有2个自由度,此时将机器人腿部顶点等效为关节,轴线折痕等效为连杆,建立机器人腿部的平面连杆等效模型,并以折面夹角为运动变量,通过仿真计算得出机器人足端的理论运动范围.利用楔形面板技术对折面增厚并避免相邻折面发生物理干涉,建模得到折纸仿螃蟹六足机器人的三维模型.基于平面连杆的等效模型,分析折面夹角与足端运动之间的联系,设计确定机器人的足端运动轨迹与运动步态.利用3D打印技术设计并制作折纸仿生六足机器人试验样机,基于STM32单片机控制实现了机器人三横向角步态运动.结果表明,该折纸仿生机器人可以实现平面构型到仿螃蟹构型的转换,在6条腿的协同运动下,机器人可以平稳地左右横向移动.

机器人灵巧手研究综述

机器人灵巧手可以模仿人类动作,完成复杂场景下的多种任务。机器人灵巧手的研究是开发智能人形机器人的关键技术之一。以机器人灵巧手的研究历程为核心,阐述了多指灵巧手的研究现状,分析了灵巧手的演化过程和研究进展。从自由度数目、驱动方式、机械传动方式和传感技术等方面探讨了灵巧手分类和特征,展望了灵巧手未来的发展趋势。

受海龟爬行与山羊行走启发的四足仿生移动机器人多步态规划及动力学分析

为解决救援机器人运动速度慢、环境适应性差和步态单一等问题,参照海龟与山羊的生理结构,设计了一种四足仿生移动机器人。首先,根据海龟能在松软地面上爬行以及山羊运动能力强的特点,为机器人规划了仿海龟爬行和仿山羊行走两种步态以适应不同环境,提高了机器人的运动性能。然后,对机器人支腿进行了动力学分析,通过建立动力学模型来获取机器人关节扭矩与运动性能参数之间的定量关系。最后,通过仿真和样机实验来验证机器人步态的可行性以及机器人的环境适应能力。结果表明,所设计的机器人结构稳定,步态规划合理,可适应不同的复杂地形。研究结果可为仿生机器人的设计与开发提供重要参考。

复杂地形下仿生轮腿式机器人位姿控制研究

丘陵山地地势复杂、地形多变,农机装备作业环境以倾斜角度较大的斜坡为主,传统农机装备在丘陵山区复杂地形下作业时效率低、稳定性差,甚至会出现侧倾、翻车等现象。本文从仿生机械设计角度出发,提出一种在丘陵山地复杂地形下能够自主实现位姿调平控制的轮腿式机器人平台,提升复杂地形下的作业稳定性和安全性。以昆虫后足为仿生机械设计对象,并结合多连杆机构原理,完成新型变行程轮腿机构及机器人平台的整体架构设计。采用D-H参数法分析了轮腿机构运动学特性,结果显示轮腿式机器人离地间隙最大调整量为574mm,具备较强的越障能力。在空间坐标系上定义轮腿式机器人空间姿态参数,推导得到机身姿态角与轮腿伸缩量之间的空间姿态模型,并设计了基于NSGA-Ⅱ的机身空间姿态逆解算法。基于空间姿态逆解算法构建了轮腿式机器人全向位姿调平位姿控制系统,包含机身调平控制器、“虚腿”补偿控制器和质心高度控制器,在复杂地形下行驶时能够控制轮腿式机器人俯仰角、侧倾角、接地力、质心高度等空间姿态参数,然后通过搭建的轮腿式机器人ADAMS-Matlab联合仿真模型完成了位姿控制系统算法仿真验证。在机器人样机上开展了离地间隙自动调整和机身全向位姿调平试验,试验结果表明,试验样机离地间隙最大调整量为574mm,同时在复杂地形下能够实现机身位姿全向自动调平,调平平均时间约为1.2s,调平平均误差为0.8°,位姿控制响应速度与调平精度能够满足实际工作要求。

基于CPG控制的双髻鲨仿生机器人设计与实验研究

随着人类对自然的探索越来越深入,新型水下航行器的需求与日俱增,仿生机器人因其特殊的推进方式和高效的推进效率而受到越来越多的关注,而传统的仿生鱼类仅模拟了流线型外壳,少有提及仿生对象本身结构对于仿生性能的影响,本文提出了一种基于中央模式发生器(CPG)的类双髻鲨仿生机器人.以鱼类基本运动形态为基础,将鱼身抽象为关节连杆结构,建立了三关节四连杆的仿生机器鱼模型并进行了仿真计算.根据步态规律预估了其运动性能,随后通过实验验证了可行性.本仿生鱼旨在以简单的机械结构和较低的控制成本,实现对双髻鲨的最大限度模拟,得益于良好的仿生结构,中央模式发生器的引入,以及柔性硅胶材料在鱼身的应用,此机器人拥有体型小,控制简单,地形适应能力强,能量利用率高等特点,与传统水下推进器相比噪音更小,环境适应能力更强,在科研、农业等行业均具有广泛的应用前景,如野外勘测,水下救援,水域巡逻等.

轨迹可控的微型水母机器人研制

为解决微型机器人在较小机身尺寸下实现高效轨迹控制的难题,设计并研制了微型仿水母机器人JRT,其由气室、重心调整机构和仿水母推进器三部分组成,尺寸仅为6.8 cm×5.3 cm,可通过重心调整机构和仿水母推进器协同控制有效实现水下轨迹可控.水下实验验证了机器人JRT沿竖直方向游泳和悬停、水平定向游泳以及水平弹射功能,并通过对机器人JRT沿竖直方向和水平方向游泳过程中的力平衡关系和运动状态数据分析提出了轨迹控制方案,测得水平定向游泳的速度可达到1.7 cm/s,轨迹偏差为0~3.4 cm,展现了微型仿水母机器人JRT较好的轨迹控制能力,可见其在水下资源勘查、环境监测等领域的应用潜力.

仿人表情机器人的下颌机构设计与运动

针对目前仿人表情机器人口部运动模式单一的问题,基于人类下颌的解剖学运动机理,设计了一种新颖的多自由度仿生下颌机构.建立了仿生下颌机构的逆向运动学模型,分析了其运动模式,实现了仿生下颌机构在空间中的多自由度运动.对多自由度仿生下颌机构进行了多刚体仿真,并通过实验验证了其可行性.仿真和实验结果表明,基于逆向运动学模型,该机构可以模拟人类下颌的张合、前推、偏移3种基本运动模式,以及咀嚼、咬唇等口部复杂运动模式,弥补了现有仿人表情机器人口部运动模式受限的问题.

可重构仿生四足机器人倾覆后恢复机理与特性研究

农业环境起伏多变,边界模糊,大多呈非结构化分布。四足机器人在复杂农业环境中作业时,易出现因倾覆失去运动能力的情况,因此机器人需具备倾覆后自我恢复能力。传统四足机器人倾覆后恢复多数依靠腿部运动来实现,而可重构四足机器人,可通过躯干与腿部协调运动来实现倾覆后自我恢复。本文基于可重构躯干构型多变,得到了多种仿生形态的可重构四足机器人,规划了基于可重构理论的倾覆后恢复机理。对比倾覆后可重构机器人利用躯干拱起折叠和单侧翻转折叠两种恢复方式,分析R1型、R2型可重构四足机器人恢复的运动特性。利用软件ADAMS进行仿真,对仿真数据进行分析,证明了可重构躯干比刚性躯干更有效地减少了恢复过程中的冲击。最后设计样机并进行实验,验证机理实施的可行性与稳定性,研究结果表明其可降低实现静态自我恢复的难度。

仿蜥蜴肌腱牵引的矿用搜救机器人眼研究

针对井下环境复杂、巷道狭窄以及目前搜救机器人普遍存在的探测角度小、响应速度慢等问题,模仿蜥蜴眼肌腱牵引的生理结构设计矿用搜救机器人仿生眼。采用STM32单片机和蓝牙通讯技术控制仿生眼的运动,在远程终端上实时显示仿生眼捕捉到的视觉信息。模型仿真及样机测试结果表明,所设计的八自由度矿用搜救机器人仿生眼视觉系统,具备俯仰、偏航、滚动三转动自由度的360°全方位搜寻能力,其角速度能够满足快速性的要求,有效实现了搜救机器人视觉系统视角大、响应快、独立性强等特点,提高了搜寻效率和范围。

蝴蝶飞行机理及仿蝴蝶扑翼飞行器研究进展综述

仿生扑翼飞行器具有高机动性、高隐蔽性以及高效率等突出优势,在军事侦查、探险搜救等领域具有较好的应用前景,而其应用的基础是对生物飞行机理的深入探究.随着先进运动观测和实验技术的引入,对昆虫飞行行为的记录和分析更为便捷和准确.研究表明常见的昆虫拍打频率较高,在25~400 Hz之间,而蝴蝶较为特殊,其扑打频率较低,大约为10 Hz,对于蝴蝶的许多独特的飞行技能尚缺少足够的认识.蝴蝶前翼和后翼的翼面积都较大,身体同侧的前后翼几乎为同步拍打,且扑打幅度较大,甚至接近180°.蝴蝶飞行中身体有较大幅度的上下和俯仰震荡,翼和身体运动高度耦合.即便如此,蝴蝶仍具有敏捷的飞行能力,可以达到点对点的飞行目标,甚至上千公里的长途迁徙,是优秀的仿生学研究对象.因此,蝴蝶启发的仿生扑翼飞行器也得到了全世界研究人员的关注.蝴蝶的飞行机制相对于其他昆虫更加特殊,飞行行为和气动特性更为复杂,这使得仿蝴蝶扑翼飞行器的研制更加困难.目前对于仿蝴蝶飞行器的研制大多数对蝴蝶翼–身耦合的机理进行了简化,很少能实现受控的稳定飞行.最后,本文梳理了真实蝴蝶的飞行行为特点和飞行机理,指出了仿蝴蝶扑翼飞行器研制的关键技术,总结了该类飞行器未来的发展方向和应用前景.

水陆两栖仿生机器人水下步态生成研究

设计一种拥有弧形腿与桨鳍结合的水陆两栖仿生机器人,提出一种水陆两栖机器人的水下步态映射函数,以期望机器人获得与海龟类似的推进方式。依据海龟的形态结构和运动形态,以Hopf振荡器为基本神经元建立六条腿全耦合式拓扑结构的中枢模式发生器(Central pattern generator,CPG)神经网络。对CPG输出信号以及机器人水下步态映射函数进行分析、优化实现参数的可调性及各步态间转换的平稳性。最后通过仿真与实验验证并生成水下步态生成的转换图,证明了优化后的步态CPG输出信号以及机器人水下步态映射函数的可行性。