Recent Advances in Robotics and Biomimetics

A special issue of Biomimetics (ISSN 2313-7673). This special issue belongs to the section "Locomotion and Bioinspired Robotics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2024 | Viewed by 2765

Special Issue Editors

School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan
Interests: robot manipulation; motion planning; intelligent robot
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Mechanical Engineering and Automation, Harbin Institute of Technology Shenzhen, Shenzhen, China
Interests: miniature robot; morphing mechanism; mechanism design; metamorphous multirotor
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
College of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
Interests: biomimetics; robotics; unmanned aero-aquatic vehicles

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nature is one of the best sources to inspire ideas. Many robots and methods are inspired by animals and their behaviours. Today, many challenges still exist on our way to building more intelligent and mimic robots, such as creating more compact and powerful actuators, multi-modal locomotion, and more intelligent sensing and decision. Breakthroughs are expected to be found by learning from nature to achieve better robotics and biomimetics.

This Special Issue aims to present the newest output and result in the areas of “Recent Advances in Robotics and Biomimetics”. The Special Issue will contain revised and substantially extended versions of selected papers that were presented at the 2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics (IEEE ROBIO 2023, http://robio2023.org/).

Papers are welcomed on topics that are related to robotics and biomimetics, including but not limited to:

  • Bioinspired robots (swimming, creeping, and flying robots).
  • Humanoid robots (mechanism, sensing, and control).
  • Applications of robotics and AI.
  • New method and technology in robotics and biomimetics.
  • Soft robotics and new concept robot.
  • Multi-robot systems and collaborative robots.

Dr. Weiwei Wan
Dr. Peng Li
Dr. Yayi Shen
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomimetics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • robotics
  • biomimetics
  • bio-inspired robot and methods
  • robot control
  • robot mechanism
  • soft robot
  • humanoid robot
  • new application of robotics

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 4619 KiB  
Article
Adaptive Gait Acquisition through Learning Dynamic Stimulus Instinct of Bipedal Robot
by Yuanxi Zhang, Xuechao Chen, Fei Meng, Zhangguo Yu, Yidong Du, Zishun Zhou and Junyao Gao
Biomimetics 2024, 9(6), 310; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9060310 - 22 May 2024
Viewed by 301
Abstract
Standard alternating leg motions serve as the foundation for simple bipedal gaits, and the effectiveness of the fixed stimulus signal has been proved in recent studies. However, in order to address perturbations and imbalances, robots require more dynamic gaits. In this paper, we [...] Read more.
Standard alternating leg motions serve as the foundation for simple bipedal gaits, and the effectiveness of the fixed stimulus signal has been proved in recent studies. However, in order to address perturbations and imbalances, robots require more dynamic gaits. In this paper, we introduce dynamic stimulus signals together with a bipedal locomotion policy into reinforcement learning (RL). Through the learned stimulus frequency policy, we induce the bipedal robot to obtain both three-dimensional (3D) locomotion and an adaptive gait under disturbance without relying on an explicit and model-based gait in both the training stage and deployment. In addition, a set of specialized reward functions focusing on reliable frequency reflections is used in our framework to ensure correspondence between locomotion features and the dynamic stimulus. Moreover, we demonstrate efficient sim-to-real transfer, making a bipedal robot called BITeno achieve robust locomotion and disturbance resistance, even in extreme situations of foot sliding in the real world. In detail, under a sudden change in torso velocity of 1.2 m/s in 0.65 s, the recovery time is within 1.5–2.0 s. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Robotics and Biomimetics)
24 pages, 8774 KiB  
Article
Snake Robot with Motion Based on Shape Memory Alloy Spring-Shaped Actuators
by Ricardo Cortez, Marco Antonio Sandoval-Chileño, Norma Lozada-Castillo and Alberto Luviano-Juárez
Biomimetics 2024, 9(3), 180; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics9030180 - 16 Mar 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1183
Abstract
This study presents the design and evaluation of a prototype snake-like robot that possesses an actuation system based on shape memory alloys (SMAs). The device is constructed based on a modular structure of links connected by two degrees of freedom links utilizing Cardan [...] Read more.
This study presents the design and evaluation of a prototype snake-like robot that possesses an actuation system based on shape memory alloys (SMAs). The device is constructed based on a modular structure of links connected by two degrees of freedom links utilizing Cardan joints, where each degree of freedom is actuated by an agonist–antagonist mechanism using the SMA spring-shaped actuators to generate motion, which can be easily replaced once they reach a degradation point. The methodology for programming the spring shape into the SMA material is described in this work, as well as the instrumentation required for the monitoring and control of the actuators. A simplified design is presented to describe the way in which the motion is performed and the technical difficulties faced in manufacturing. Based on this information, the way in which the design is adapted to generate a feasible robotic system is described, and a mathematical model for the robot is developed to implement an independent joint controller. The feasibility of the implementation of the SMA actuators regarding the motion of the links is verified for the case of a joint, and the change in the shape of the snake robot is verified through the implementation of a set of tracking references based on a central pattern generator. The generated tracking results confirm the feasibility of the proposed mechanism in terms of performing snake gaits, as well as highlighting some of the drawbacks that should be considered in further studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Robotics and Biomimetics)
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