A Soft Amphibious Turtle Robot with Flexibility and Omnidirectional Motion Ability Actuated by Multiple Bionic...

Area of Science:

• Robotics
• Biomimetics
• Materials Science

Background:

• Amphibious robots offer significant potential for tasks like environmental monitoring and rescue due to their cross-medium mobility.
• Current bionic turtle robots often lack the ability to move effectively in both water and on land, primarily due to limitations in soft actuators and control methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and develop an amphibious turtle robot capable of effective locomotion in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.
• To overcome the limitations of single-medium movement in existing bionic robots through advanced actuator and control system design.

Main Methods:

• Development of a cylindrical dielectric elastomer actuator (DEA) capable of bidirectional deformation (±65°) and high output force (∼80 mN) for enhanced amphibious capabilities.
• Optimization of fin motion trajectories and phase control of multiple bionic muscles to achieve efficient bimodal locomotion.
• Integration of DEA-powered bionic muscles for actuation in both crawling and swimming gaits.

Main Results:

• The bionic turtle robot demonstrated effective movement in two media, transitioning from land to water.
• Optimized control strategies resulted in a maximum swimming speed of 0.4 body lengths per second (BL/s).
• The robot successfully executed various motion modes, including forward, backward, lateral movement, turning, and crawling.

Conclusions:

• The developed amphibious turtle robot showcases improved motion capabilities and environmental adaptability, surpassing previous single-medium bionic designs.
• This research contributes to advancements in bionic amphibious robots and provides insights for controlling multi-actuated robotic systems.
• The novel bionic muscle actuator and control system offer a promising approach for future amphibious robotic platforms.