Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Shu-Xiang Guo
Engineering, Kagawa University, Takamatsu 761-0396, Japan
Harbin Engineering University, Harbin 150001, PRC
Kinji Asaka
Kansai Research Institute, AIST, Midorigaoka, Osaka 563-8577, Japan
Abstract: In order to develop a new type of fish-like microrobot with swimming, walking, and floating motions, in our
past research, we developed a hybrid microrobot actuated by ionic conducting polymer film (ICPF) actuators. But the
microrobot had some problems in walking and floating motions. In this paper, we propose a concept of hybrid microrobot
(see Fig. 1). The microrobot is actuated by a pair of caudal fins, a base with legs and an array of artificial swim bladders. We
have developed a prototype of the base with legs and one artificial swim bladder, respectively, and carried out experiments
for evaluating their characteristics. Experimental results show the base with legs can realize walking speed of 6 mm/s and
rotating speed of 7.1 degrees/s respectively, and the prototype of the artificial swim bladder has a maximum floatage of
2.6 mN. The experimental results also indicate that the microrobot has some advantages, such as walking motion with 2
degrees of freedom, the walking ability on rough surface (sand paper), the controllable floatage, etc. This kind of fish-like
microrobot is expected for industrial and medical applications.
Keywords: Biomimetic locomotion, ionic conducting polymer film (ICPF) actuator, hybrid microrobot, underwater mi-
crorobot.
Fig. 2 A photo of the developed hybrid fish-like Insects are the experts in using legs. One step cycle
microrobot of an abbreviated leg of the insect is shown in Fig. 4.
Each step cycle can be divided into two phases, the
In this paper, we propose a concept of hybrid fish- swing-search phase and the stance phase[2527] . Tra-
like microrobot. The microrobot consists of a pair of ditional robots are always employing multi-joint legs
caudal fins, a base with legs and an array of artificial inspired from nature. The multi-joint legs are flexi-
swim bladders, as shown in Fig. 1. The microrobot is ble, but they need much space, actuators and complex
proposed to have the following functions: control method and not suitable for microrobots.
1) To have multi DOFs in walking motion; We designed a structure with one-DOF actuators,
2) To walk on rough surface; as shown in Fig. 5-A-(a). The vertical actuator is
3) To walk without resistance from the ground; called the driver. It is to offer moving propulsion.
4) To collect the bubbles and attain a larger float- The horizontal actuator is the supporter and to lift
360 International Journal of Automation and Computing 4 (2006) 358-365
the driver up so that the driver can revert for the 2.2 The structure of the array of artificial
next propulsion. Supporters and drivers hold the body swim bladders
alternately[2830] . The strategies for some terrains are
shown in Fig. 5. For a compact structure and the flex- The array of artificial swim bladders is inspired
ibility, based on our past work[31,32], the base is devel- by the fish. It consists of several bladders, as shown
oped using six actuators as shown in Fig. 6. The A, in Fig. 7(b). One artificial swim bladder is shown in
C and E are drivers, and the B, D, and F are sup- Fig. 7(a). It has one ICPF actuator to electrolyze the
porters. Although they are asymmetric, adjusting the water to get the bubbles. A gas container is to collect
centers of drivers and supporters to the weight center, the bubbles in its cavity, and it is conjoined to the base
the asymmetric effect can be ignored. stander by a shaft so that it can rotate to release the
bubble.
Fig. 6 The structure of the base with legs Fig. 9 Mechanism of the caudal fins
W. Zhang et al./A New Type of Hybrid Fish-like Microrobot 361
Table 1 The strategies of swimming motion 4) In period D ((c) to (d)), drivers bend backward
Motions Conditions as the propulsion stroke, and the body is pushed for-
Forward f1 = f2 ward.
Right turn f1 > f2 During the swing-search phase (period A, B and
Left turn f1 < f2 C), drivers are away from the ground and find an-
other foothold point with the help of supporters. In
f 1 and f 2 stand for the frequencies of the caudal fins on right the stance phase (period D), drivers push the body
and left respectively forward.
3.2 The mechanism of the walking motion
The drivers and supporters are in the same fre-
quency, and the phase of supporters is delayed by 90 de-
grees, as shown in Fig. 10. The drivers offer the propul-
Fig. 11 One step cycle of moving forward (The marks ,
sion for walking. The supporters are not contributors
indicate which legs contact the ground)
of walking, but they help the drivers avoid the resis-
tance from the ground when the drivers revert. Differ-
ent walking motions can be realized, as shown in Table If the displacement of the actuator is d and the base
2. with legs can move forward l in one step cycle, as shown
in Fig. 12, then it is easy to obtain (1). And the speed
is given by (2) where v is the average speed, and f
stands for the frequency.
l=d (1)
v = d f. (2)
15 + d 15 d
= 1 2 = arctan arctan
55 55
(6)
15 + d 15 d
= f = (arctan arctan )f
55 55
(7)
Fig. 13 One step cycle of the rotating motion (The marks Fig. 15 The mechanism principle of the artificial swim
, indicate which legs contact the ground) bladder
Table 3 The strategies of floating motion
Motions Conditions
Sink down until on the ground F + F < M g
Suspend in water F + F = M g
Float up until in the water surface F + F > M g
F = n v (n = 0, , N ). (9)
Fig. 16 The photo of the developed base with legs
When a higher voltage or lower frequency signal is
applied to the actuator, the displacement of actuator is Applying signals with different voltages and fre-
enlarged, so it drives the gas container rotating to expel quencies, we recorded the time for walking motion dur-
the gas by pushing the releaser, as shown in Fig. 15(b). ing 10 cm and rotating motion in 90 degrees. The calcu-
In this case, the increasing floatage, F , can be lated walking and rotating speeds are shown in Figs. 17
changed from 0 to N v, and the state of the mi- and 18. We also carried out experiment of climbing and
crorobot in water can be controlled as shown in Table striding. The base climbed on a 2 mm-high stair, and
3. strode over a 5 mm-wide pit, with 0.5 Hz, 8 V.
W. Zhang et al./A New Type of Hybrid Fish-like Microrobot 363
pp. 8591, 2003. He has published over 10 refereed journal and conference
[23] B. Kim, J. Ryu, Y. Jeong, Y. Tak, B. Kim, J. Park. A Cil- papers in recent two years. His interest includes legged micro-
iary Based 8-legged Walking Micro Robot Using Cast IPMC robots.
Actuators. In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference Mr. Zhang is an IEEE student member.
on Robotics and Automation, Taipei, vol. 3, pp. 29402945,
Sep. 2003.
[24] S. Guo, Y. Okuda, K. Asaka. Hybrid Type of Underwater Shu-Xiang Guo received his B.Sc.
Micro Biped Robot with Walking and Swimming Motions. and the M.Sc. degrees in mechani-
In Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Mecha- cal engineering from the Changchun
tronics and Automation, Ontario, Canada, pp. 8186, 2005. Institute of Optics and Fine Mechan-
[25] J. Dean. Leg Coordination in the Stick Insect Carausius Mo- ics, Changchun, China, in 1983 and in
rosus: Effects of Cutting Thoracic Connectives. Journal of 1986, respectively, and the Ph.D. de-
Experimental Biology, vol. 145, no. 1, pp. 103131, 1989. gree in mechano-informatics and sys-
[26] H. Cruse. Which Parameters Control the Leg Movement tems from Nagoya University, Nagoya,
of a Walking Insect? I. Velocity Control during the Stance Japan, in 1995. In 1995, he was a fac-
Phase. Journal of Experimental Biology, vol. 116, no. 1, pp. ulty member at Mie University, Mie,
343355, 1985. Japan and in 1998 at Kagawa Univers-
ity, Kagawa, Japan. Currently, he is a professor with the Depart-
[27] H. Cruse. Which Parameters Control the Leg Movement of a
ment of Intelligent Mechanical System Engineering at Kagawa
Walking Insect? II. The Start of the Swing Phase. The Jour-
University.
nal of Experimental Biology, vol. 116, no. 1, pp. 357362,
He has published about 140 refereed journal and conference
1985.
papers. His current research interests include micro robotics
[28] W. Zhang, S. Guo. The Development of a New Kind of Un-
and mechatronics, micro robotics system for minimal invasive
derwater Walking Robot. In Proceedings of International
surgery, micro catheter system, micro pump, and smart material
Conference on Complex Medical Engineering, Takamatsu,
(SMA, ICPF) based on actuators.
Japan, pp. 199204, 2005.
Dr. Guo received research awards from the Tokai Section of
[29] W. Zhang, S. Guo, K. Asaka. A Novel Type of Underwater
the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME), the Tokai
Crawling Mcrorobot. In Proceedings of IEEE International
Science and Technology Foundation, and the Best Paper Award
Conference on Robotics and Biomimetics, Hongkong, China,
of the IS International Conference, Best Paper Award of the
pp. 155160, 2005.
2003 International Conference on Control Science and Technol-
[30] W. Zhang, S. Guo, K. Asaka. Developments of Two Novel
ogy and Best Conference Paper Award of IEEE ROBIO2004, in
Types of Underwater Crawling Microrobots. In Proceedings
1997, 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2004, respectively.
of IEEE International Conference on Mechatronics and Au-
tomation, Ontario, Canada, pp. 18841889, July 2005.
[31] W. Zhang, S. Guo, K. Asaka. Design and Experimental Re- Kinji Asaka received his Ph.D. degree
sults of a Tripodic Biomimetic Microrobot with 5 DOFs. in science from Kyoto University in
In Proceedings of The 6th World Congress on Intelligent 1991. He is currently a group leader of
Control and Automation (WCICA2006), Dalian, China, pp. the Artificial Cell Research Group, Re-
83788382, June 21-23, 2006. search Institute for Cell Engineering of
[32] W. Zhang, S. Guo, K. Asaka. A tripodic biomimetic under- National Institute of Advanced Indus-
water microrobots utilizing ICPF actuators. In Proceedings trial Science and Technology (AIST).
of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots His current research interests in-
and Systems, Beijing, China, Oct. 9-15, 2006, to be pub- clude interfacial electrochemistry and
lished. polymer actuators.
Dr. Asaka is a member of the Soci-
ety of Polymer Science, Japan and the Society of Instrument and
Wei Zhang received his B.Sc. and Control and Engineers.
M.Sc degrees from University of Elec-
tronic Science and Technology of
China (UESTC), China, in 2001 and
2004, respectively. Currently, he is
a Ph.D. candidate in Kagawa Univer-
sity, Japan. He researches on underwa-
ter microrobot utilizing artificial mus-
cles, such as Ionic Conducting Poly-
mer Film (ICPF) actuators for indus-
try and bio-medical applications.