Research on Key Techniques of Insect Flapping Onset Control Based on Electrical Stimulation.

Feng Feng,Jiang Jiang,Yang Yang,Zheng Zheng

doi:10.3390/s20010239

Abstract

In this paper, an insect flapping onset control method based on electrical stimulation is proposed. The beetle (Allomyrina dithotomus, Coleoptera) is employed for the research carrier, and it’s left and right longitudinal muscles are electrically stimulated to control the flapping onset behavior. The control principle of insect flapping onset utilizing electrical stimulation is analyzed firstly followed by the movement function of the dorsal longitudinal muscle. Subsequently, a micro-control system, which is composed of a PC controller, coordinator and electronic backpack, is designed to realize the wireless control of beetle movements. Finally, the verification experiment is implemented to verify the effectiveness of dorsal longitudinal muscle stimulation with respect to the beetle flapping onset, whereas the comparative experiment emphasizes on determining optimal simulating parameters. The experimental results demonstrate that when the period, duty ratio, number of and amplitude of pulses stimulation signal are assigned to 5 ms, 20%, 90 and 3.3 V respectively, the beetle flapping onset can be controlled with an average response time of 1.69 s. Simultaneously, the optimization of duty ratio from 20% to 40%, and the number of pulses from 90 to 100, is proved to the best parameter configuration.

Highlights

The concept of incorporating microcomputers with living insects, which takes advantage of the great athletic ability of insects and control ability of microcontrollers has been conceived by numerous research groups as early as the 1990s
We propose an insect flapping onset control method based on electrical stimulation
The micro-control system which consists of the coordination and the electronic backpack is designed in rechargeable lithium micro battery is arranged to providing power for the entire backpack

Summary

Introduction

The concept of incorporating microcomputers with living insects, which takes advantage of the great athletic ability of insects and control ability of microcontrollers has been conceived by numerous research groups as early as the 1990s. With the rapid development of low-power microcontrollers and radio technology in recent years, wireless control, feedback control, intelligent algorithms and many other techniques have emerged for the insect–computer hybrid robot employment. The insect-computer hybrid robot has a wide application prospect in the field of military strategy, national defense security and insect scientific research. C.J Sanchez in the Texas A&M University, the United States, who developed an electronic backpack for the electrical stimulation of the left and right of the thoracic ganglion in the cockroaches, successfully implemented the left and right steering of the cockroaches in 2015 [4]. In 2009, the take-off, stop and turn of Manduca sexta were successfully controlled at Cornell

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