Related papers: Energy-storing analysis and fishtail stiffness opt…
Median fins of fish-like swimmers play a crucial role in linear acceleration and maneuvering processes. However, few research focused on untethered robotic fish experiments. Imitating the behaviour of real tuna, we developed a free-swimming…
This paper is dedicated to the development of a novel adaptive torsion spring mechanism for optimizing energy consumption in legged robots. By adjusting the equilibrium position and stiffness of the spring, the system improves energy…
Soft machines typically exhibit slow locomotion speed and low manipulation strength because of intrinsic limitations of soft materials. Here, we present a generic design principle that harnesses mechanical instability for a variety of…
Many bacteria are motile by means of one or more rotating rigid helical flagella, making them the only known organism to use rotation as a means of propulsion. The rotation is supplied by the bacterial flagellar motor, a particularly…
Microorganisms often encounter strong confinement and complex hydrodynamic flows while navigating their habitats. Combining finite-element methods and stochastic simulations, we study the interplay of active transport and heterogeneous…
Cyborg in the brain-machine interface field has attracted more attention in recent years. To control a creature via a machine called cyborg method, three stages are considerable: stimulation of neurons, neural response, and the behavioral…
For decades, people have been seeking for fishlike flapping motions that can realize underwater propulsion with low energy cost. Complexity of the nonstationary flow field around the flapping body makes this problem very difficult. In…
In this work, we provide a simulation framework to perform systematic studies on the effects of spinal joint compliance and actuation on bounding performance of a 16-DOF quadruped spined robot Stoch 2. Fast quadrupedal locomotion with…
Elastic actuation taps into elastic elements' energy storage for dynamic motions beyond rigid actuation. While Series Elastic Actuators (SEA) and Variable Stiffness Actuators (VSA) are highly sophisticated, they do not fully provide control…
Existing research has yet to reach a consensus on whether and how small flying animals utilize elastic energy storage mechanisms to reduce flight energy expenditure, and there is a lack of systematic and universal methods for assessment. To…
Actuating periodically an elastic filament in a viscous liquid generally breaks the constraints of Purcell's scallop theorem, resulting in the generation of a net propulsive force. This observation suggests a method to design simple…
In this work we developed a mathematical model and a simulation platform for a fish-inspired robotic template, namely Magnetic, Modular, Undulatory Robotics ($\mu$Bots). Through this platform, we systematically explored the effects of…
Navigating efficiently across vortical flow fields presents a significant challenge in various robotic applications. The dynamic and unsteady nature of vortical flows often disturbs the control of underwater robots, complicating their…
How fish modulate their fin stiffness during locomotive manoeuvres remains unknown. We show that changing the fin's curvature modulates its stiffness. Modelling the fin as bendable bony rays held together by a membrane, we deduce that fin…
Spintronic devices have been widely studied for the hardware realization of artificial neurons. The stochastic switching of magnetic tunnel junction driven by the spin torque is commonly used to produce the sigmoid activation function.…
To maintain full autonomy, autonomous robotic systems must have the ability to self-repair. Self-repairing via compensatory mechanisms appears in nature: for example, some fish can lose even 76% of their propulsive surface without loss of…
An optimal control problem for longitudinal motions of a thin elastic rod is considered. We suppose that a normal force, which changes piecewise constantly along the rod's length, is applied to the cross-section so that the positions of…
Robotic fish is one of the most promising directions of the new generation of underwater vehicles. Traditional biomimetic fish often mimic fish joints using tandem components like servos, which leads to increased volume, weight and control…
This paper presents the design and experimental validation of a bio-inspired soft aquatic robot, the DilBot, which uses a bistable shape memory alloy-driven engine for pulse-jet locomotion. Drawing inspiration from the efficient swimming…
A simple way to generate propulsion at low Reynolds number is to periodically oscillate a passive flexible filament. Here we present a macroscopic experimental investigation of such a propulsive mechanism. A robotic swimmer is constructed…