Performance Verification of Biomimetic Mole Robot (Mole-Bot) for Efficient Underground Exploration

Lee, Junseok; Tirtawardhana, Christian; Myung, Hyun

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-26889-2_29

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 13 publications

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“…They also proposed an embedded burrowing robot with a drilling system that includes waist and locomotion mechanisms, making it suitable for moving underground environments. [ 34 ] In 2023, Yuan et al developed a 3‐DOF dynamic model to simulate the drilling and steering actions of an autonomous burrowing mole‐type robot, which used numerical simulation to provide reliable control methods for tracking the robot in lunar soil. [ 35 ] Despite the extensive research on mole‐inspired robots, most of these robots are still in the laboratory stage and have not yet reached practical applications.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mole‐Inspired Robot Burrowing with Forelimbs for Planetary Soil Exploration

Zhang,

Wei,

Zheng

et al. 2024

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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The biological world serves as a vast reservoir of inspiration for human innovation, particularly in the realm of robotics designed to navigate intricate granular environments. Among these creatures adept at burrowing, the mole stands out due to its exceptional body structure and unparalleled efficiency, surpassing most engineering burrowing systems. Consequently, the mole serves as an ideal model for designing highly efficient burrowing robots. This study introduces a mole‐inspired robot burrowing with forelimbs, specifically designed for planetary soil exploration. By closely examining the distinctive body morphology of moles, a forelimb burrowing mechanism is devised through biomimetic mapping, and its kinematics is thoroughly analyzed. A robot prototype is developed and an experimental setup is constructed to evaluate its burrowing performance. A series of tests are conducted to assess the capabilities of the robot, including forelimb burrowing, robot crawling, and robot burrowing. The results demonstrate that the proposed mole‐inspired burrowing robot is capable of crawling and burrowing to a certain depth using its forelimbs. Although it exhibits some upward displacement, this issue can be mitigated by modifying the head configuration and adjusting the forelimb posture to effectively overcome the vertical stress and lift force exerted by granular soils due to intensity gradient.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mole‐Inspired Robot Burrowing with Forelimbs for Planetary Soil Exploration

Zhang,

Wei,

Zheng

et al. 2024

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Advances in Drill-Based Sampling Technology for Extraterrestrial Bodies

Wang,

Zhang

et al. 2024

Space Sci Rev

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Animal-Morphing Bio-Inspired Mechatronic Systems: Research Framework in Robot Design to Enhance Interplanetary Exploration on the Moon

Cornejo,

García Cena,

Baca

2024

Biomimetics

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Over the past 50 years, the space race has potentially grown due to the development of sophisticated mechatronic systems. One of the most important is the bio-inspired mobile-planetary robots, actually for which there is no reported one that currently works physically on the Moon. Nonetheless, significant progress has been made to design biomimetic systems based on animal morphology adapted to sand (granular material) to test them in analog planetary environments, such as regolith simulants. Biomimetics and bio-inspired attributes contribute significantly to advancements across various industries by incorporating features from biological organisms, including autonomy, intelligence, adaptability, energy efficiency, self-repair, robustness, lightweight construction, and digging capabilities-all crucial for space systems. This study includes a scoping review, as of July 2024, focused on the design of animal-inspired robotic hardware for planetary exploration, supported by a bibliometric analysis of 482 papers indexed in Scopus. It also involves the classification and comparison of limbed and limbless animal-inspired robotic systems adapted for movement in soil and sand (locomotion methods such as grabbing-pushing, wriggling, undulating, and rolling) where the most published robots are inspired by worms, moles, snakes, lizards, crabs, and spiders. As a result of this research, this work presents a pioneering methodology for designing bio-inspired robots, justifying the application of biological morphologies for subsurface or surface lunar exploration. By highlighting the technical features of actuators, sensors, and mechanisms, this approach demonstrates the potential for advancing space robotics, by designing biomechatronic systems that mimic animal characteristics.

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Performance Verification of Biomimetic Mole Robot (Mole-Bot) for Efficient Underground Exploration

Cited by 3 publications

References 13 publications

Mole‐Inspired Robot Burrowing with Forelimbs for Planetary Soil Exploration

Mole‐Inspired Robot Burrowing with Forelimbs for Planetary Soil Exploration

Advances in Drill-Based Sampling Technology for Extraterrestrial Bodies

Animal-Morphing Bio-Inspired Mechatronic Systems: Research Framework in Robot Design to Enhance Interplanetary Exploration on the Moon

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