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A class of bionic hyper-redundant robots mimicking the bird’s neck

基于鸟类脖颈结构的仿生超冗余机器人

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Abstract

Some birds’ necks show excellent flexible bending ability, which can be mimicked to design bionic robot. The main challenge is how to deal with the bird neck’s inherent flexibility and redundant degrees of freedom. In this study, a design method of a class of bionic hyper-redundant robots mimicking the neck of birds is proposed, taking the chicken as an example. In our design, a bionic vertebrae unit (BVU) with the combination of springs and universal joint is first defined to simulate chicken cervical vertebrae, which is further employed to investigate the connection and motion characteristics. Then, three BVUs in parallel driven by three steel wires form a single cervical segment. Finally, connecting four identical cervical segments constitutes the proposed bionic hyper-redundant robot. The kinematics of the driving space, joint space and task space of the proposed bionic hyper-redundant robot are investigated by combing the geometric analysis method and Denavit-Hartemberg (D-H) parameter method. The reachable workspace is further computed by the Monte Carlo method. Furthermore, the maximum position deviation of the single plane motion experiment on the prototype is about 5.8% of the total length of the four cervical segments. A series of displays of space shape, including S-shaped bionic bending configuration and the successful winding and lifting of the object of interest, proves that the proposed robot has excellent flexibility and application potential and that the proposed design method is effective.

摘要

一些鸟类的脖颈具有出色的柔性弯曲能力, 模仿其特性可以设计仿生机器人. 该类仿生设计的主要挑战是如何处理鸟类脖颈固有的灵活性和冗余的自由度. 本文以鸡的脖颈结构为例, 提出了一种模仿其脖颈结构特征的仿生超冗余机器人的设计方法. 在我们的设计中, 首先研究鸡脖颈的多骨节连接与运动特性, 并定义了一个具有弹簧和万向节组合的仿生椎骨单元(BVU)来模拟鸡脖颈结构. 然后, 由三根钢丝平行驱动的三个仿生椎骨单元形成单个颈椎节段. 最后, 连接四个相同的颈椎节段构成了所提出的仿生超冗余机器人. 结合几何分析法和Denavit-Hartemberg (D-H)参数法, 研究了仿生超冗余机器人的驱动空间、关节空间和任务空间的运动学关系. 通过蒙特卡洛方法进一步计算了可达工作空间. 此外, 原型样机的单平面运动实验的最大位置偏差约为四个颈椎节段总长度的5.8%. 同时, 一系列空间形状的展示, 包括S形仿生弯曲配置和对兴趣目标体的成功缠绕和提升, 证明了所提出的设计方法的有效性、机器人具有优异的灵活性和应用潜力.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11832009, 12172095, and 11902085), and the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (Grant No. 2021A1515010320). We are also very grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their contributions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Mechanical and Electric Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, 510006, China

    Junfeng He  (何俊峰) & Guilin Wen  (文桂林)

  2. Hebei Innovation Center for Equipment Lightweight Design and Manufacturing, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao, 066004, China

    Guilin Wen  (文桂林) & Jie Liu  (刘杰)

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  1. Junfeng He  (何俊峰)
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  2. Guilin Wen  (文桂林)
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Contributions

Guilin Wen designed the research. Junfeng He and Jie Liu wrote the first draft of the manuscript. Guilin Wen provided the study materials and instruments. Junfeng He set up the experiment and processed the experiment data. Guilin Wen helped organize the manuscript. Junfeng He and Jie Liu revised and edited the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guilin Wen  (文桂林).

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He, J., Wen, G. & Liu, J. A class of bionic hyper-redundant robots mimicking the bird’s neck. Acta Mech. Sin. 39, 522351 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10409-022-22351-x

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