Crayfish Robot That Generates Flow Field to Enhance Chemical Reception
Crayfish Robot That Generates Flow Field to Enhance Chemical Reception
复制标题
产生流场以增强化学接收能力的小龙虾机器人
DOI：
10.4236/jst.2012.24026
复制
发表时间：
2012
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
H. Ishida
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Ohashi;Y. Kagawa;T. Nakatsuka;H. Ishida
本文介绍了一种轮式水下机器人的自主定位化学源滞流条件下开发。在静水中，释放的化学物质停留在紧邻源位置的地方。在这种条件下寻找化学源是极其费力的，因为从远处无法检测到化学源的存在。机器人上的化学传感器没有反应，除非从源头释放的化学物质到达传感器。小龙虾在寻找食物时，会主动地挥动它们的小附肢，形成扇形，从而产生水流。据认为，产生的水流有助于它们的嗅觉搜索。食物的气味通过产生的气流从周围环境带到它们的嗅觉器官，然后被感知。本文介绍的机器人采用模仿小龙虾的上颌骨的手臂来产生水流，并将化学物质吸引到其传感器。通过垂直挥动手臂，产生三维流场，并从很大的角度范围内抽取水样。化学源的方向可以通过比较四个横向排列的电化学传感器的响应来确定。实验结果表明，在收集化学样品到传感器上的过程中，由颌状臂产生的流场比由泵产生的流场更有效。配备有颚足臂的机器人可以检测化学源的存在，即使源被放置在机器人的轨迹之外。
This paper describes a wheeled underwater robot developed for locating chemical sources autonomously under stagnant flow conditions. In still water, the released chemical stays in the immediate vicinity of the source location. The search for chemical sources under such conditions is extremely laborious since the presence of a chemical source cannot be detected from a distant place. The chemical sensors on the robot show no response unless a chemical substance released from the source arrives at the sensors. Crayfish in search of food are known to actively generate water currents by waving their small appendages with a fan-like shape. It is considered that the generated water currents help their olfactory search. The smell of food is carried to their olfactory organs from the surroundings by the generated flow, and then is perceived. The robot presented in this paper employs arms mimicking the maxillipeds of a crayfish to generate water currents and to draw chemicals to its sensors. By waving the arms vertically, a three-dimensional flow field is generated and water samples are drawn from a wide angular range. The direction of a chemical source can be determined by comparing the responses of four laterally aligned electrochemical sensors. Experimental results show that the flow field generated by the maxilliped arms is more effective in collecting chemical samples onto the sensors than that generated by a pump. The robot equipped with the maxilliped arms can detect the presence of a chemical source even if the source is placed off the trajectory of the robot.