Designing higher fourier harmonics of Tegotae function using genetic algorithm —a case study with an
earthworm locomotion
In this study, taking earthworm locomotion as an example, we design
a Tegotae function whose action term includes higher Fourier harmonics by using a genetic algorithm.
We demonstrate via simulations that the performance improves by implementing th... (Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics)
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - August 11, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Takeshi Kano, Ryu Wakimoto, Mitsutoshi Sato, Ayumi Shinohara and Akio Ishiguro Source Type: research
Towards a framework for collective behavior in growth-driven systems, based on plant-inspired
allotropic pairwise interactions
A variety of biological systems are not motile, but sessile in nature, relying on growth as the main
driver of their movement. Groups of such growing organisms can form complex structures, such as the
functional architecture of growing axons, or the adaptive structure of plant root systems. These
processes are not yet understood, however the decentralized growth dynamics bear similarities to the
collective behavior observed in groups of motile organisms, such as flocks of birds or schools of
fish. Equivalent growth mechanisms make these systems amenable to a theoretical framework inspired
by tropic responses of plant...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - August 7, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Renaud Bastien, Amir Porat and Yasmine Meroz Source Type: research
Wing flexibility reduces the energetic requirements of insect flight
Flapping insect wings deform under aerodynamic as well as inertial-elastic forces. This deformation
is thought to improve power economy and reduce the energetic costs of flight. However, many flapping
wing models employ rigid body simplifications or demand excessive computational power, and are
consequently unable to identify the influence of flexibility on flight energetics. Here, we derive a
reduced-order model capable of estimating the driving torques and corresponding power of flapping,
flexible insect wings. We validate this model by actuating a tobacco hornworm hawkmoth Manduca sexta
(L.) forewing with a custom...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 27, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Heidi E Reid, Ryan K Schwab, Miles Maxcer, Robert K D Peterson, Erick L Johnson and Mark Jankauski Source Type: research
Development of helical, fish-inspired cross-step filter for collecting harmful algae
A new filter was developed to collect harmful algae colonies by adapting the cross-step filtration
structures and mechanisms discovered recently in filter-feeding fish. Extending beyond previously
published models that closely emulated the basic morphology of the fish, the new cross-step filter ’s
major innovations are helical slots, radial symmetry, and rotation as an active anti-clogging
mechanism. These innovations enable the transport of concentrated particles to the downstream end of
the filter. This advance was made possible by recognizing that biologically imposed constraints such
as bilateral symmetry do no...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 27, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Adam Schroeder, Lauren Marshall, Brian Trease, Anna Becker and S Laurie Sanderson Source Type: research
Development and experiments of a bio-inspired robot with multi-mode in aerial and terrestrial
locomotion
This paper introduces a new multi-modal robot capable of terrestrial and aerial locomotion, aiming
to operate in a wider range of environments. The robot was built to achieve two locomotion modes of
walking and gliding while preventing one modality hindering the other. To achieve this goal, we
found the solution from Pteromyini , commonly known as the flying squirrel. Pteromyini utilizes its
flexible membrane to glide in the air, and it shows agile movements on the ground. We studied
Pteromyini to mimic the key features that allow Pteromyini to perform aerial and terrestrial
locomotion. We adopted the flexible membra...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 27, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Won Dong Shin, Jaejun Park and Hae-Won Park Source Type: research
A pressure difference sensor inspired by fish canal lateral line
It is of interest to exploit the insight from the lateral line system of fish for flow sensing
applications. In this paper, a novel fish canal lateral line-inspired pressure difference sensor is
proposed by embedding an ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) sensor within a canal filled with
viscous fluid. Such a sensor could be used by underwater robots and vehicles for object detection,
angle of attack measurement, and source localization. Unlike the biological counterpart that has
open ends on the surface of the body, the proposed sensor has two pores covered with a latex
membrane, which prevents the canal fluid fro...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 27, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Montassar Aidi Sharif and Xiaobo Tan Source Type: research
A simplified dynamic model for controlled insect hovering flight and control stability analysis
In this paper, the controlled stability of insect hovering flight is analyzed in detail based on a
simplified dynamic model of the flyer and flow. The simplified dynamic model incorporates PID-based
wing-kinematic controllers. The control stability of the hovering flight is evaluated based on the
cycle-mean dynamic equations. The stability analyses and the simplified dynamic model allow us to
derive and test the control coefficients for stable free hovering, firstly in the longitudinal mode
of flight and then the lateral mode. In this manner, coefficients for wing-kinematic control for
full CFD-FSI simulation could b...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 10, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Jie Yao and K S Yeo Source Type: research
Photomorphogenesis for robot self-assembly: adaptivity, collective decision-making, and self-repair
Self-assembly in biology is an inspiration for engineered large-scale multi-modular systems with
desirable characteristics, such as robustness, scalability, and adaptivity. Previous works have
shown that simple mobile robots can be used to emulate and study self-assembly behaviors. However,
many of these studies were restricted to rather static and inflexible aggregations in predefined
shapes, and were limited in adaptivity compared to that observed in nature. We propose a
photomorphogenesis approach for robots using our vascular morphogenesis model —a light-stimuli
directed method for multi-robot self-assembly ins...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 10, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Mohammad Divband Soorati, Mary Katherine Heinrich, Javad Ghofrani, Payam Zahadat and Heiko Hamann Source Type: research
Lubrication by biomacromolecules: mechanisms and biomimetic strategies
Biomacromolecules play a key role in protecting human biointerfaces from friction and wear, and thus
enable painless motion. Biomacromolecules give rise to remarkable tribological properties that
researchers have been eager to emulate. In this review, we examine how molecules such as mucins,
lubricin, hyaluronic acid and other components of biotribological interfaces provide a unique set of
rheological and surface properties that leads to low friction and wear. We then highlight how
researchers have used some of the features of biotribological contacts to create biomimetic systems.
While the brush architecture of the...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 10, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Clementine Pradal, Gleb E Yakubov, Martin A K Williams, Michael A McGuckin and Jason R Stokes Source Type: research
Recurrent neural networks for hydrodynamic imaging using a 2D-sensitive artificial lateral line
We present a 2D-sensitive artificial lateral
line (ALL) comprising eight all-optical flow sensors, which we use to measure hydrodynamic velocity
profiles along the sensor array in response to a moving object in its vicinity. We then use the
measured velocity profiles to reconstruct the object ’s location, via two types of neural networks:
feed-forward and recurrent. Several implementations of feed-forward neural networks for ALL source
localisation exist, while recurrent neural networks may be more appropriate for this task. The
performance of a recurrent neural network (the long short-term memory, LSTM) is compare...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - July 9, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Ben J Wolf, Steven Warmelink and Sietse M van Netten Source Type: research
Self-supervised learning of the biologically-inspired obstacle avoidance of hexapod walking robot
In this paper, we propose an integrated biologically inspired visual collision avoidance approach
that is deployed on a real hexapod walking robot. The proposed approach is based on the Lobula giant
movement detector (LGMD), a neural network for looming stimuli detection that can be found in visual
pathways of insects, such as locusts. Although a superior performance of the LGMD in the detection
of intercepting objects has been shown in many collision avoiding scenarios, its direct integration
with motion control is an unexplored topic. In our work, we propose to utilize the LGMD neural
network for visual interceptio...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - May 1, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Petr Čížek and Jan Faigl Source Type: research
Flow field perception based on the fish lateral line system
Fish are able to perceive the surrounding weak flow and pressure variations with their
mechanosensory lateral line system, which consists of a superficial lateral line for flow velocity
detection and a canal lateral line for flow pressure gradient perception. Achieving a better
understanding of the flow field perception algorithms of the lateral line can contribute not only to
the design of highly sensitive flow sensors, but also to the development of underwater smart skin
with good hydrodynamic imaging properties. In this review, we discuss highly sensitive flow-sensing
mechanisms for superficial and canal neuromast...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - May 1, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Yonggang Jiang, Zhiqiang Ma and Deyuan Zhang Source Type: research
Bottom-level motion control for robotic fish to swim in groups: modeling and experiments
Moving in groups is an amazing spectacle of collective behaviour in fish and has attracted
considerable interest from many fields, including biology, physics and engineering. Although robotic
fish have been well studied, including algorithms to simulate group swimming, experiments that
demonstrate multiple robotic fish as a stable group are yet to be achieved. One of the challenges is
the lack of a robust bottom-level motion control system for robotic fish platforms. Here we seek to
overcome this challenge by focusing on the design and implementation of a motion controller for
robotic fish that allows multiple indivi...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - April 30, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Liang Li, Anquan Liu, Wei Wang, Sridhar Ravi, Rubin Fu, Junzhi Yu and Guangming Xie Source Type: research
Emergence of behavior through morphology: a case study on an octopus inspired manipulator
The complex motion abilities of the Octopus vulgaris have been an intriguing research topic for
biologists and roboticists alike. Various studies have been conducted on the underlying control
architectures employed by these high dimensional biological organisms. Researchers have attempted to
replicate these architectures on robotic systems. Contrary to previous approaches, this study
focuses on a robotic system, which is only morphologically similar to the Octopus vulgaris , and how
it would behave under different control policies. This sheds light on the underlying optimality
principles that these biological systems...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - April 22, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Thomas George Thuruthel, Egidio Falotico, Federico Renda, Tamar Flash and Cecilia Laschi Source Type: research
Fluid-structure interaction modeling on a 3D ray-strengthened caudal fin
In this paper, we present a numerical model capable of solving the fluid-structure interaction
problems involved in the dynamics of skeleton-reinforced fish fins. In this model, the fluid
dynamics is simulated by solving the Navier –Stokes equations using a finite-volume method based on
an overset, multi-block structured grid system. The bony rays embedded in the fin are modeled as
nonlinear Euler –Bernoulli beams. To demonstrate the capability of this model, we numerically
investigate the effect of various ray stiffness distributions on the deformation and propulsion
performance of a 3D caudal fin. Our numerical...
Source: Bioinspiration and Biomimetics - April 8, 2019 Category: Science Authors: Guangyu Shi, Qing Xiao, Qiang Zhu and Wei Liao Source Type: research
