Inspenet, July 7, 2023.
Scientists are conducting research on both real insects and insect robots to gain a better understanding of how they perceive the force in their limbs as they walk. This knowledge is critical to developing big-legged robots that are more agile.
Specifically, experts are studying force receptors known as bell-bellies (CSs), found on the limbs of insects, which respond to stress and strain and provide crucial data on the control of locomotion. These facts were disclosed in a press release published last Thursday.
Dr. Szczecinski, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering in the Statler College of Mineral Resources and Engineering at West Virginia University, USA, stated: “I study the role of force sensors in walking insects because they are essential for successful locomotion.
“The feedback provided by these sensors is essential to achieve proper posture and coordination,” the researcher stated.
Insect robots: where does your design come from?
Instead of using computational models, the researchers decided to build robotic models because they offer a more realistic representation of the friction between moving parts, including the delays in the transmission of neural signals. Robotic limbs are even more efficient than those of real animals, since they can record both the sending and receiving of each signal and the resulting mechanical actions.
“Walking is an intrinsically mechanical task, therefore, to understand the neural control of walking, it is necessary to simultaneously investigate the mechanics and neural control,” Szczecinski explained.
“Properly functioning walking robots can serve as prototype machines that could help people farm in extreme terrain, explore other planets or roam forests to monitor ecosystem health,” he added.
The aforementioned professor relies on two main robots for his research : a biomimetic robot inspired by the fruit fly, which walks on six legs, and a single-legged robot that allows a simplified simulation of the sensory experience of an insect leg. while walking.
In addition to working with robots, Szczecinski also examines real insects to explore the role of force receptors. It isolates the limbs of the insects and monitors the sensory pathways using electrodes while various forces are applied. It then uses the recorded sensory signals to develop models for the robotic legs.
“By recording their response to multiple signals, we can gain a better understanding of how insects convert forces into neural activity,” Szczecinski explained. “We use a variety of different stimuli, since the receptors are very dynamic and always adapt to the applied forces.”
Through his research, the professor has discovered similarities between real insects and their robotic counterparts. “We have found that our model is equally capable of describing how receptors convert forces into neural activity in every insect species we have studied,” Szczecinski said in the news release. “This suggests that the organs in each species function in a broadly similar way.”
Source and photo: https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/scientists-engineer-robots-that-walk-like-real-insects
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