Locomotion of arthropods in aquatic environment and their applications in robotics

Abstract

Many bio-inspired robots have been developed so far after careful investigation of animals' locomotion. To successfully apply the locomotion of natural counterparts to robots for efficient and improved mobility, it is essential to understand their principles. Although a lot of research has studied either animals' locomotion or bio-inspired robots, there have only been a few attempts to broadly review both of them in a single article. Among the millions of animal species, this article reviewed various forms of aquatic locomotion in arthropods including relevant bio-inspired robots. Despite some previous robotics research inspired by aquatic arthropods, we found that many less-investigated or even unexplored areas are still present. Therefore, this article has been prepared to identify what types of new robotics research can be carried out after drawing inspiration from the aquatic locomotion of arthropods and to provide fruitful insights that may lead us to develop an agile and efficient aquatic robot.

Capillary-scale solid rebounds: experiments, modelling and simulations

“…2016; Chen et al. 2018 b ; Kwak & Bae 2018). Dynamic particle motion with capillary effects is also fundamental to a number of industrial processes including self-assembly of particles at interfaces (Whitesides & Boncheva 2002; Whitesides & Grzybowski 2002), wet scrubbing and deposition for removal of particulates from gases (Jaworek et al.…”

“…In these cases, impacts that do not break through the surface are particularly relevant to the study of water-walking mechanisms (Yang et al 2016). Inspired by water-walking insects, numerous biomimetic robots have been proposed for use in autonomous environmental exploration and monitoring (Bush & Hu 2006;Hu et al 2010;Yuan & Cho 2012;Zhao et al 2012;Koh et al 2015;Yang et al 2016;Chen et al 2018b;Kwak & Bae 2018). Dynamic particle motion with capillary effects is also fundamental to a number of industrial processes including self-assembly of particles at interfaces (Whitesides & Boncheva 2002;Whitesides & Grzybowski 2002), wet scrubbing and deposition for removal of particulates from gases (Jaworek et al 2006;Wang, Song & Yao 2015), mineral flotation for material processing (Ueda et al 2010;Liu, Evans & He 2016) and particle deposition techniques for rapid manufacturing (Haley, Schoenung & Lavernia 2019).…”

Flexible Driving Mechanism Inspired Water Strider Robot Walking on Water Surface

“…Ever since Bush and Hu [8] designed the first robot mimicking the motion of water striders powered by elastic thread, a lot of robots imitating water striders are reported [5], [9]- [22]. Sitti et al [10]- [12] designed a water strider robot driven by T-shaped actuation mechanism composed of three piezoelectric unimorph actuators, the legs are made of hydrophobic Teflon coated wires.…”

Locomotion with a twist: Aquatic beetle walks upside down on the underside of the water's surface

“…Animals generally move through aquatic environments by propelling themselves underwater through swimming, propulsion, or flotation (Vogel, 2008). Another form of underwater locomotion is pedestrian locomotion whereby animals walk while maintaining physical contact with submerged structures (Kwak & Bae, 2018; Martinez, 1996; Vogel, 2008). Unlike terrestrial walking where gravity is the main and dominant horizontal destabilizing force, animals that move under the water are required to counter the strong destabilizing horizontal and vertical hydrodynamic forces of drag, lift, and acceleration which can force them to detach from substrates (Ditsche & Summers, 2014; Martinez, 2001).…”