Bio-inspired robot control systems for space application

用于空间应用的机器人系统需要增强的自主性和最少的人机交互。虽然机器人技术的重点一直在认知水平上，但最近的重点一直是位置机器人技术，取得了混合成功，但在扩展到更复杂的行为方面已经达到了极限。仿生方法提供了另一个层次的研究-在生物动物中，形态结构与它们的控制结构共同进化。实际上，控制系统利用生物系统中的结构和机械配置。此外，生物体与其环境的相互作用是生物进化的驱动力（因为这定义了生存直到繁殖）。这方面的代理环境相互作用已被忽视，但它是生物学的基础。这种忽视的部分原因是生物学和工程学中使用的不同材料-工程材料的设计是为了变形而设计的，而生物材料则是为了断裂而设计的。生物系统利用结构和机械顺应性作为与环境物理相互作用的动态缓冲器。否则，这种动态相互作用力将是混乱的，因为反馈控制回路的固有时间延迟产生不稳定性。前馈机制在生物学中也被用来作为预测因子，但这些机制也有局限性。此外，生物系统利用多个控制回路，包括紧密控制回路，其中传感器和致动器的概念在探索活动期间是模糊的。该研究计划旨在通过利用生物学的经验教训，进一步了解机器人与环境相互作用的这些方面，从而产生更强大的自主机器人空间系统。这将适用于空间应用的操纵器、流动站、样本采集装置和可部署的科学仪器，因为需要远程但强大和自适应的自主性。有几种方法可以利用，这将在本研究计划中进行探讨。

Robotic systems for space application require enhanced autonomy with minimal human interaction. Although much emphasis in robotics has been at the cognitive level, more recent emphasis has been in situated robotics with mixed success but which has reached a limit in scaling to more complex behaviours. A biomimetic approach provides another level of investigation - in biological animals, morphological structures have co-evolved with their control structures. Indeed, structural and mechanical configuration in biological systems is exploited by the control system. Furthermore, the interaction of the organism with its environment is the driver of biological evolution (as this defines survival until procreation). This aspect of agent-environment interaction has been much neglected yet it is fundamental in biology. Part of this neglect results from different materials used in biology and engineering - engineering materials are designed for stiffness to deformation while biological materials evolved with toughness to fracture. Structural and mechanical compliance is exploited by biological systems as a dynamic buffer to physical interaction with the environment. Such dynamic interaction forces would otherwise be chaotic as inherent time delays of feedback control loops generate instabilities. Feedforward mechanisms are also exploited in biology to act as predictors but these also have limitations. Furthermore, biological systems make use of multiple control loops including tight control loops in which the concept of sensor and actuator are blurred during exploratory activity. This program of research seeks to further understand these aspects of robot-environment interaction by exploiting lessons from biology, thereby generating more robust autonomous robotic space systems. This will be applied to manipulators, rovers, sample acquisition devices and deployable scientific instruments for space application due to the need for remote but robust and adaptive autonomy. There are several approaches to be exploited which shall be be explored in this research programme.