ミミズからヒントを得た、あらゆる風景をナビゲートするくねくねロボット(Worms Inspire Wiggly Robots That Navigate All Landscapes)

ad

2024-05-13 ジョージア工科大学

ミミズからヒントを得た、あらゆる風景をナビゲートするくねくねロボット(Worms Inspire Wiggly Robots That Navigate All Landscapes)

ミミズやヘビは、地形を学ぶことなく様々な環境を進みます。これらの生物は「機械的知能」と呼ばれる現象により、障害物を利用して進むことが可能です。研究者たちはこの原理を用いて、無脚ロボットを開発しました。このロボットは災害救助や惑星探査など、困難な任務に役立つ可能性があります。また、ロボットは生物学的原理を理解し、より良いロボットの構築に役立つ洞察を提供します。

<関連情報>

機械的知性により、四肢のない陸上運動における制御が簡素化される Mechanical intelligence simplifies control in terrestrial limbless locomotion

TIANYU WANG, CHRISTOPHER PIERCE, VELIN KOJOUHAROV, BAXI CHONG , […], AND DANIEL I. GOLDMAN
Science Robotics  Published:20 Dec 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.adi2243

Abstract

Limbless locomotors, from microscopic worms to macroscopic snakes, traverse complex, heterogeneous natural environments typically using undulatory body wave propagation. Theoretical and robophysical models typically emphasize body kinematics and active neural/electronic control. However, we contend that because such approaches often neglect the role of passive, mechanically controlled processes (those involving “mechanical intelligence”), they fail to reproduce the performance of even the simplest organisms. To uncover principles of how mechanical intelligence aids limbless locomotion in heterogeneous terradynamic regimes, here we conduct a comparative study of locomotion in a model of heterogeneous terrain (lattices of rigid posts). We used a model biological system, the highly studied nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, and a robophysical device whose bilateral actuator morphology models that of limbless organisms across scales. The robot’s kinematics quantitatively reproduced the performance of the nematodes with purely open-loop control; mechanical intelligence simplified control of obstacle navigation and exploitation by reducing the need for active sensing and feedback. An active behavior observed in C. elegans, undulatory wave reversal upon head collisions, robustified locomotion via exploitation of the systems’ mechanical intelligence. Our study provides insights into how neurally simple limbless organisms like nematodes can leverage mechanical intelligence via appropriately tuned bilateral actuation to locomote in complex environments. These principles likely apply to neurally more sophisticated organisms and also provide a design and control paradigm for limbless robots for applications like search and rescue and planetary exploration.

0109ロボット
ad
ad
Follow
ad
タイトルとURLをコピーしました