CAREER: Whole Skin Locomotion Inspired by Amoeboid Motility Mechanisms

该学院早期职业发展（Career）研究项目探索了移动机器人的一种新型运动机制，其灵感来自单细胞生物的运动机制，即利用细胞质流产生用于运动的假足。整个皮肤运动（WSL），正如我们所说，是通过一个细长的环形体来工作的，它在一个单一的连续运动中翻转自己，有效地产生了变形虫细胞质流外质管的整体运动。我们的初步实验表明，使用WSL机制的机器人可以很容易地挤在障碍物之间或坍塌的天花板下，并利用其所有接触面进行牵引向前移动，甚至可以通过直径比其名义宽度小得多的孔来挤压自己。这种独特的机动性使WSL成为需要在瓦砾上或瓦砾下穿行的搜救机器人的理想运动方法，或者用于机器人内窥镜等医疗应用，机器人需要在狭窄的空间内机动。本研究项目结合了基础分析和实验研究，以设计和开发新的WSL机制。这是通过；应用变形体运动机制的生物学理论建立WSL驱动模型；对这些模型的力学进行分析；为设计进行参数化研究，包括功率效率和力传递特性；建立实验设备进行验证；开发宏观和微观尺度的新型执行器；制造机器人原型用于演示和评估。所提出的活动的智力价值在于发展了一种新型机制的原始概念，这种机制可以从驱动环的扩张和收缩运动中产生旋转运动，用于移动机器人的新型生物启发运动策略，并促进了设计中的生物启发概念。这种新机制还将使智能材料（如电活性聚合物）以新的方式使用，为“软机器人”等新的、创造性的和令人兴奋的领域打开大门。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) research project explores a novel locomotion mechanism for mobile robots which is inspired by the motility mechanisms of single celled organisms that use cytoplasmic streaming to generate pseudopods for locomotion. The Whole Skin Locomotion (WSL), as we call it, works by way of an elongated toroid which turns itself inside out in a single continuous motion, effectively generating the overall motion of the cytoplasmic streaming ectoplasmic tube in amoebae. Our preliminary experiments show that a robot using the WSL mechanism can easily squeeze between obstacles or under a collapsed ceiling and move forward using all of its contact surfaces for traction, or even squeeze itself through holes with diameters much smaller than its nominal width. This unique mobility makes WSL the ideal locomotion method for search-and-rescue robots that need to traverse over or under rubble, or for medical applications such as robotic endoscopes where a robot needs to maneuver itself into tight spaces. This research project combines fundamental analytical and experimental research towards the design and development of the novel WSL mechanism. This is achieved by; applying biological theories of amoeboid motility mechanisms to develop WSL actuation models; performing analysis for the mechanics of these models; conducting parametric studies for design including power efficiency and force transmission characteristics; building an experimental apparatus for validation; developing macro and micro scale novel actuators; and fabricating robot prototypes for demonstration and evaluation. The intellectual merits of the proposed activities lie in the development of an original concept of a new class of mechanism that generates an everting motion from the expanding and contracting motion of actuating rings to be used for a new type of biologically inspired locomotion strategy for mobile robots, and in promoting the concept of bio-inspiration in design. This novel mechanism will also enable smart materials such as electroactive polymers to be used in new ways, opening the door for new, creative and exciting areas such as "soft robotics."