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Bio-inspired rotational penetration and horizontal self-burrowing soft robot

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Abstract

Inspired by self-burial seeds and burrowing amphisbaenians, we experimentally explored the effect of rotation on vertical and horizontal penetration resistance in shallow sands; we then integrated the findings with previously identified burrowing principles to design a soft, horizontal burrowing robot. A rotational penetration system was developed by integrating a six-axis robotic arm with custom motorized penetrators and corresponding control and data acquisition units. A series of vertical rotational penetration tests were conducted in Ottawa F65 sand with different vertical and rotational velocity combinations. The effects of relative slip velocity (the ratio between the rotational and vertical penetration velocity, and inertial number (a function of the resultant velocity) were investigated. The results revealed that increase in relative slip velocity led to decrease in penetration force and increase in penetration torque. On the other hand, the inertial number had a negligible effect on the reduction of penetration force: The penetration force and torque levels were comparable under a same relative slip velocity, regardless of the initial number. The rotation-induced reduction in penetration force was further confirmed in the context of horizontal penetration. Furthermore, the results suggested that the reduction in penetration force was also influenced by the embedment depth and the geometry of the penetrators. Based on the findings, a self-burrowing robot was developed by incorporating a rotational tip into a soft linear actuator, and its burrowing behavior in the horizontal direction was preliminarily evaluated. We present these components together with the intention of demonstrating a real-life workflow that we employed in the emerging field of bio-inspired geotechnics.

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Data availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article (and its supplementary information files).

Abbreviations

\(d\) or \(D_{50}\) :

Average particle diameter (m)

\(D_{{\rm p}}\) :

The diameter of the penetrator (m)

\(d_{{\rm w}}\) :

The thickness of the container wall (m)

\(d_{{\rm h}}\) :

The diameter of the hole for the pluviator (m)

\(f_{{\rm s}}\) :

Unit shaft resistance (kPa)

\(D\) :

The thickness of the shear band (m)

\(g\) :

Gravitational acceleration (m/s\(^{2}\))

\(\dot{\gamma }\) :

Shear rate (1/s)

\(\omega\) :

Rotational velocity (rad/s)

\(I\) :

Inertial number (–)

\(L\) :

Penetration distance (m)

\(L_{{\rm t}}\) :

The tip length of the penetrators (m)

\(L_{{\rm s}}\) :

The submerged length of the shaft (m)

\(p\) :

Pressure (kPa)

\(q_{{\rm t}}\) :

Tip resistance (kPa)

\(Q\) :

Total penetration force on the penetrator (N)

\(Q_{{\rm c}}\) :

The penetration force on the penetrator for direct penetration test (N)

\(Q_{{\rm rot}}\) :

The penetration force on the penetrator for rotational penetration test (N)

\(r\) :

The radius of the penetrator (m)

\(\rho\) :

Density (kg/m\(^{3}\))

\(T\) :

Total resistive torque on the penetrator (N m)

\(u\) :

Relative slip velocity \(u = v_{{\rm r}} /v_{{\rm v}}\) (–)

\(u_{{\rm h}}\) :

Horizontal relative slip velocity \(u_{{\rm h}} = v_{{\rm r}} /v_{{\rm h}}\) (–)

\(v_{{\rm v}}\) :

Vertical penetration velocity (m/s)

\(v_{{\rm h}}\) :

Horizontal penetration velocity (m/s)

\(v_{{\rm t}}\) :

Resultant velocity (m/s)

\(v_{{\rm r}}\) :

Rotational velocity (m/s)

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under NSF CMMI 1849674, CMMI 1841574, and EEC 1449501. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the NSF. We also would like to thank the anonymous reviewers whose constructive comments helped us improve the overall quality of the paper.

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  1. School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment, Center for Bio-mediated and Bio-inspired Geotechnics, Arizona State University, 650 E Tyler Mall, Tempe, AZ, 85281, USA

    Yong Tang, Yi Zhong & Junliang Tao

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  1. Yong Tang
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  2. Yi Zhong
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Correspondence to Junliang Tao.

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Appendix

Appendix

See Table 4.

Table 4 The ratio between the thickness of the shear band and the average particle diameter
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Tang, Y., Zhong, Y. & Tao, J. Bio-inspired rotational penetration and horizontal self-burrowing soft robot. Acta Geotech. 19, 1345–1363 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11440-023-02173-z

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