Review on Bioinspired Planetary Regolith-Burrowing Robots

Wei, Hongyu; Zhang, Yinliang; Zhang, Tao; Guan, Yisheng; Xu, Kun; Ding, Xuhua; Pang, Yong

doi:10.1007/s11214-021-00863-2

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 119 publications

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“…Despite these challenges, subterranean robots have many promising application areas. Potential uses for these types of machines include agricultural site characterization ( Fountas et al, 2020 ), geotechnical engineering ( Martinez et al, 2021 ), construction and excavation ( Melenbrink et al, 2020 ), and remote planetary exploration in regolith ( Wei et al, 2021 ). Additionally, many organisms which locomote underground are not well understood due to the difficulty of observation below the substrate surface.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent years have seen growing interest in building robots to operate in granular media, with many potential modes of burrowing explored. As summarized by ( Wei et al, 2021 ), various burrowing robots draw inspiration from biological organisms, including moles ( Richter et al, 2002 ; Kubota et al, 2007 ; Richardson et al, 2011 ; Lee et al, 2019 ; Olaf et al, 2019 ), worms ( Omori et al, 2013 ; Tang et al, 2015 ; Fujiwara et al, 2018 ; Isaka et al, 2019 ; Liu et al, 2019 ; Ortiz et al, 2019 ; Das et al, 2020 ; Alhart, 2021 ), plant roots ( Sadeghi et al, 2014 , 2017 ), sandfish ( Maladen et al, 2011 ) and bivalves ( Germann and Carbajal, 2013 ; Winter et al, 2014 ; Tao et al, 2020 ), among others. Several works aim to draw inspiration from mole crabs to create robots with legged locomotive capabilities; Russell (2011) created a robot with external flapping fins which, due to feathering on the return stroke, can locomote in horizontal planes of motion.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We define self-burrowing as the capability of an agent to burrow its whole body downward, under its own weight with no external pushing or interaction. In Table 1 , we summarize the existing vertical self-burrowing robots, drawing from review presented by Wei et al (2021) . Notably, most of the works utilize a drilling mechanism in combination with another propulsion mechanism, either through multi-segmented peristalsis or dual anchor methods.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Summary of existing vertical self-burrowing robots We summarize efforts to create self-burrowing robots capable of vertical locomotion in granular media, drawing from work inWei et al (2021). Publication information, biological inspiration, and burrowing mechanisms utilized are indicated.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Mole crab-inspired vertical self-burrowing

2022

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We present EMBUR—EMerita BUrrowing Robot—the first legged robot inspired by the Pacific mole crab, Emerita analoga, capable of burrowing vertically downward. We choose Emerita analoga as a model organism for its rapid downward burrowing behaviors, as it is four times as fast as the most rapid bivalve mollusk. Vertical burrowing in granular media is a challenging endeavor due to the tendency for the media to create upwards resistive forces on an intruder, even during purely horizontal motions. Our robot is capable of vertically burrowing its body in granular substrate primarily through excavation using two leg pairs, which are functionally analogous to groupings of leg pairs of the mole crab. We implement a novel leg mechanism with a sweeping trajectory, using compliant fabric to enable an anisotropic force response. The maximum resistive force during the power stroke is 6.4 times that of the return stroke. We compare robot body pitch and spatial trajectories with results from biomechanical studies of the mole crabs. We characterize the sensitivity of the robot to initial depth, body pitch and leg pose, and propose bounds on initial conditions which predict various burrowing failure modes. Parametric studies utilizing Granular Resistive Force Theory inform our understanding of robot behavior in response to leg phasing and orientation. Not only does this robotic platform represent the first robophysical model of vertical mole crab-inspired burrowing, it is also one of the first legged, primarily excavative small-scale burrowing agents.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Mole crab-inspired vertical self-burrowing

2022

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“…Our goal to consider approaches to burrowing from the perspective of the burrower and to integrate our understanding from biology and robotics distinguishes our review from previous reviews of burrowing. Wei et al (2021) provide a valuable categorization of burrowing robots, especially those that could be used in planetary soils; Martinez et al (2021) provide an overview from a soil mechanics perspective. Hosoi and Goldman review strategies of burrowing in granular media by size and speed regimes, providing canonical biological examples and mathematical models for their relevant soil mechanics ( Hosoi and Goldman 2015 ).…”

Section: Fundamental Problem Of Burrowingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fundamentals of burrowing in soft animals and robots

Dorgan

Daltorio

2023

Front. Robot. AI

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Creating burrows through natural soils and sediments is a problem that evolution has solved numerous times, yet burrowing locomotion is challenging for biomimetic robots. As for every type of locomotion, forward thrust must overcome resistance forces. In burrowing, these forces will depend on the sediment mechanical properties that can vary with grain size and packing density, water saturation, organic matter and depth. The burrower typically cannot change these environmental properties, but can employ common strategies to move through a range of sediments. Here we propose four challenges for burrowers to solve. First, the burrower has to create space in a solid substrate, overcoming resistance by e.g., excavation, fracture, compression, or fluidization. Second, the burrower needs to locomote into the confined space. A compliant body helps fit into the possibly irregular space, but reaching the new space requires non-rigid kinematics such as longitudinal extension through peristalsis, unbending, or eversion. Third, to generate the required thrust to overcome resistance, the burrower needs to anchor within the burrow. Anchoring can be achieved through anisotropic friction or radial expansion, or both. Fourth, the burrower must sense and navigate to adapt the burrow shape to avoid or access different parts of the environment. Our hope is that by breaking the complexity of burrowing into these component challenges, engineers will be better able to learn from biology, since animal performance tends to exceed that of their robotic counterparts. Since body size strongly affects space creation, scaling may be a limiting factor for burrowing robotics, which are typically built at larger scales. Small robots are becoming increasingly feasible, and larger robots with non-biologically-inspired anteriors (or that traverse pre-existing tunnels) can benefit from a deeper understanding of the breadth of biological solutions in current literature and to be explored by continued research.

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Toward Robotic Sensing and Swimming in Granular Environments using Underactuated Appendages

Chopra,

Vasile,

Jadhav

et al. 2023

Advanced Intelligent Systems

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Granular environments, such as sand, are one of the most challenging substrates for robots to move within due to large depth‐dependent forces, unpredictable fluid/solid resistance forces, and limited sensing capabilities. An untethered robot is presented, inspired by biological diggers like sea turtles, which utilize underactuated appendages to enable propulsion and obstacle sensing in granular environments. To guide the robot's design, experiments are conducted on test appendages to identify the morphological and actuation parameters for forward thrust generation. Obstacle sensing is observed in granular media by measuring the increased force on the moving appendage caused by changes in the granular flow around it. These results are integrated into an untethered robot capable of subsurface locomotion in a controlled granular bed like natural, loosely packed sand. The robot achieves subsurface “swimming” at a speed of 1.2 mm s−1, at a depth of 127 mm, faster than any other reported untethered robot at this depth, while also detecting obstacles during locomotion via force sensors embedded in the appendages. Finally, subsurface robot locomotion in natural sand at the beach is demonstrated, a feat no other robot has accomplished, showcasing how underactuated structures enable movement and sensing in granular environments with limited limb control.

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Review on Bioinspired Planetary Regolith-Burrowing Robots

Cited by 19 publications

References 119 publications

Mole crab-inspired vertical self-burrowing

Mole crab-inspired vertical self-burrowing

Fundamentals of burrowing in soft animals and robots

Toward Robotic Sensing and Swimming in Granular Environments using Underactuated Appendages

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