Branching Vine Robots for Unmapped Environments

Author:

Glick Paul E.,Adibnazari Iman,Drotman Dylan,Ruffatto III Donald,Tolley Michael T.

Abstract

While exploring complex unmapped spaces is a persistent challenge for robots, plants are able to reliably accomplish this task. In this work we develop branching robots that deploy through an eversion process that mimics key features of plant growth (i.e., apical extension, branching). We show that by optimizing the design of these robots, we can successfully traverse complex terrain even in unseen instances of an environment. By simulating robot growth through a set of known training maps and evaluating performance with a reward heuristic specific to the intended application (i.e., exploration, anchoring), we optimized robot designs with a particle swarm algorithm. We show these optimization efforts transfer from training on known maps to performance on unseen maps in the same type of environment, and that the resulting designs are specialized to the environment used in training. Furthermore, we fabricated several optimized branching everting robot designs and demonstrated key aspects of their performance in hardware. Our branching designs replicated three properties found in nature: anchoring, coverage, and reachability. The branching designs were able to reach 25% more of a given space than non-branching robots, improved anchoring forces by 12.55×, and were able to hold greater than 100× their own mass (i.e., a device weighing 5 g held 575 g). We also demonstrated anchoring with a robot that held a load of over 66.7 N at an internal pressure of 50 kPa. These results show the promise of using branching vine robots for traversing complex and unmapped terrain.

Publisher

Frontiers Media SA

Subject

Artificial Intelligence,Computer Science Applications

Cited by 3 articles. 订阅此论文施引文献 订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献

1. Interaction Behaviors of a Vine Robot in a Pipe T-Junction;2024 IEEE 7th International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft);2024-04-14

2. HaPPArray: Haptic Pneumatic Pouch Array for Feedback in handheld Robots;2023 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA);2023-05-29

3. Continuous Skin Eversion Enables an Untethered Soft Robot to Burrow in Granular Media;2023 IEEE International Conference on Soft Robotics (RoboSoft);2023-04-03

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3