Small Robot Research Articles

Environmental Mapping of Underwater Structures Based on Remotely Operated Vehicles with Sonar System

Recently, underwater robotics has rapidly developed, and is often used in open-water exploration and underwater operations in known environments. However, there are still several problems in exploring the interiors of complex underwater environments, which are essential for scientific exploration and industrial applications, such as caves and shipwrecks. This study aims to complete the exploration of the environment of structures under water bodies. A real-time manipulative small underwater robot was designed and developed. The robot’s autonomous depth control and linear motion-assisted control are also realized by real-time sensor data processing, which provides stability and operability to move in small areas and complex environments. The sonar system is used to construct a submap for small-area scanning. Finally, by combining the odometer algorithm and contour extraction, the submaps are stitched together to construct a complete map of the internal underwater environment.

Lightweight sensor monitors wing dynamics in bio-inspired robots

Small robots with flapping wings have strict weight and power requirements, making this self-powered integrated sensor perfect for returning pitch angle and wing frequency.

Research on the Key Technology of a Small Rock Hole Inspection Robot

Research on the Key Technology of a Small Rock Hole Inspection Robot

Implementation of Autonomous Docking and Charging for a Supporting Robotic Fish

Underwater energy supplements for autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) are significant for ocean exploitation owing to energy storage and data communication limitations. Aiming at the energy supplement for bionic robotic fish, an autonomous recharging-oriented docking approach is proposed in this paper. First, an omnidirectional docking system containing a supporting robotic fish capable of visual recognition and wireless charging and a docking platform is presented. Next, five locomotive modes are designed and analyzed based on the hybrid swimming and gliding patterns for the robot fish. Utilizing the five modes, a docking procedure is planned, and an onboard-visual-based autonomous docking control strategy is presented. Aquatic experiments, including docking with the platform and refloating a small robot, are performed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The obtained results offer valuable insights into the development of autonomous docking of bionic robots, laying a solid foundation for the permanent operation of various underwater devices and robots.

VERTICAL MOTION OF MINIATURE WALKING ROBOTS. STATE OF THE PROBLEM REVIEW

The article reviews the state of the art of developing miniature walking robots for vertical movement due to friction forces between limbs and surface. In particular, special attention is paid to miniature walking robots - hexapods, as they have good stability and cross-country ability compared to other types of robots, both wheeled and tracked. Unlike other types of robots, hexapods can be fully autonomous. This makes them a potentially versatile tool for solving a variety of tasks in different areas, such as: 1) rescue operations - hexapods can penetrate destroyed buildings to assess the condition under the rubble, explore underwater spaces, and generally move in places where there is not enough space for movement and complex maneuvers; 2) military use - hexapods can clear mines, be used for reconnaissance or surveying, while saving lives due to the possibility of complete autonomy; 3) industrial applications - due to their maneuverability and cross-country ability, hexapod robots can become indispensable in quarries and construction sites where there are slopes, mountainous terrain, and generally where wheeled or tracked robots cannot easily move; 4) speleology - search and exploration of minerals inside caves, mines, etc; 5) accident response, in particular, in the nuclear power industry.
 Despite the long history of development and significant progress in this area, thanks to which many design solutions and modernizations are already known, the problem of vertical movement of small hexapod robots due to friction forces still remains unsolved.
 Existing developments are usually aimed at moving on surfaces by imitating the limbs of biological creatures (insects, animals, etc.), which allows robots to climb upwards thanks to an adhesive substance, grip the surface with mechanical claws, etc. Magnet and suction cup designs have also been known for a long time, but this solution requires a very powerful power source and is not universal.
 Therefore, one of the most promising areas of research is the vertical movement of hexapod robots due to friction forces between the limbs and the surface, since the robot remains autonomous and does not require special equipment and additional communication with a power source (compressor, etc.), and, more importantly, is able to move both on horizontal and vertical surfaces.
 At the moment, there are several examples of successful use of hexapods for vertical movement, but the review of works has shown that the problem of vertical movement of miniature hexapod robots remains relevant and requires further research and development. Existing achievements in this area give us hope that in the future we will demonstrate effective solutions to this problem and the widespread use of hexapods in various industries and science.

Development of an FPGA-Based Robotic Anti-Electromagnetic Interference Unsorted Bin-Picking System

In response to the problem of robots needing to perform bin-picking in many industries, a small robot system was developed with a workpiece-position-detection system based on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. The system integrated object detection and feature matching techniques, bolstered by optimization methods, to enhance its functionality on the FPGA platform. Furthermore, a two-wire control bus was designed specifically for reliable operation in environments characterized by strong interference, drawing inspiration from the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. The experimental results demonstrated that the system’s performance was comparable to that of the point-cloud-algorithm-based bin-picking system, while also exhibiting greater stability. Notably, the cost of the controller was significantly reduced, and the embedded hardware and software design ensured stability and adaptability for deployment in demanding settings, such as small-scale heavy industry factories.

Safe human-robot collaboration in construction: A conceptual perspective

Introduction: Small mobile robots have become increasingly popular in the construction domain over the last few years. They are stable on rough terrains, can walk over small obstacles, climb stairs, and carry various sensors or arms to perform diverse functions and sub-tasks required to complete construction-related tasks. Saving time, improving accessibility to difficult or unsafe spaces, and reducing costs while accomplishing construction tasks are some of the benefits of using small, mobile robots in construction. However, serious concerns about new workplace hazards could arise from having mobile robots on the jobsite. Unfortunately, no study has attempted to evaluate these risks, especially in the construction domain. Therefore, there was a significant need to develop a holistic understanding of the direct and indirect risks of mobile robot applications in construction. Method: In this paper, we used inferential and Virtual Reality (VR) visualization techniques to: (1) construct conceptual visualizations of proximal and distant human-robot interaction within the construction context; and (2) identify potential safety challenges of robots, which were categorized into three groups: (a) physical risks, (b) attentional costs, and (c) psychological impacts. These identified safety challenges were then validated and ranked by a group of construction safety and robotic experts who had knowledge and experience using such robots in construction. Practical Applications: The outcomes of the study provided a detailed understanding of how robots might adversely affect workers’ safety and health. The study outcomes could also be ultimately used in creating regulatory and administrative guidelines for the safe operations of small mobile robots in construction.

Design and Simulation of On-Orbit Assembly System Based on Insect-Inspired Transportation

In response to the requirements of large-scale space in-orbit assembly and the special environment of low gravity in space, this paper proposes a small robot structure with the integration of assembly, connection, and vibration reduction functionalities. Each robot consists of a body and three composite mechanical arms-legs, which can dock and transfer assembly units with the transport spacecraft unit, and also crawl along the edge truss of the assembly unit to a designated location to complete in-orbit assembly while ensuring precision. A theoretical model of robot motion was established for simulation studies, and in the research process, the vibration of the assembly unit was studied, and preliminary adjustments were made to address the vibration issue. The results show that this structure is feasible for in-orbit assembly schemes and has good adjustment ability for flexible vibration.

Micro Spy Bot

Micro robots with live audio and video streaming capabilities can help in tracking human beings during earthquakes and also perform underground surveys. This mini spy car can inspect very minute hole areas that are not accessible to humans. Hence these Micro-bots are essential to find people stuck under collapsed buildings due to earthquakes. These small micro-size robots are equipped with a camera that helps in spying or helps the army and intelligence system in collecting information and live video footage and activity on the enemy and terrorists. But designing such micro-sized SPY BOTs is very complicated. Hence the proposed design of micro-sized SPY BOTs size is not-longer than a small finger and can go easily in minute holes to collect the data. Robots have been making inroads to human life in almost all spheres. Spy bots can be immensely useful for unmanned surveillance and covert spying operations. If online streaming of the spied data can be made feasible, that would be an added advantage. In this paper, we propose an unmanned Spybot that can be controlled remotely from web-page based commands, using a WIFI network. It can also stream back the spied data that could be video or images, over the WIFI network

AI Companion Robot Data Sharing: Preferences of an Online Cohort and Policy Implications

AbstractPolicymakers have recognized the urgent need to create AI data protections, yet the interests of older adults have thus far not been well represented. We report peoples' perspectives on small AI companion robots for older adults, along with attendant issues related to facial expression and conversation data collection and sharing. Data are from a cross‐sectional survey of an online cohort of the Oregon Center for Aging & Technology at Oregon Health & Science University, with a response rate of 45% and analytic sample of 825 (mean age: 63.9, rang: 25‐88). Logistic regressions examined relationships between comfort and data sharing preferences with socio‐demographic characteristics. Just over half (52.3%) were somewhat or very comfortable with an artificial companion robot during the pandemic and 45.2% were under normal circumstances. In adjusted models, being younger, male, and having lower formal education and greater confidence in computer use were associated with greater likelihood of being comfortable with a companion robot. Those who were at least somewhat comfortable with robots recording their conversations (15%) or reported that they would probably want their facial expressions read for emotion detection (52.8%) also selected with whom they want these data shared. Free text comments were thematically analyzed. Primary themes were that robot‐based data collection constitutes over monitoring and invasion of privacy, with participants predicting data privacy, security, and use issues. These findings about the importance potential users place on data protection and transparency demonstrate a need for law and policy to act to enable trustworthy, desirable companion robots.

A Magnetically-Actuated Coiling Soft Robot With Variable Stiffness

Soft and flexible magnetic robots have gained significant attention in the past decade. These robots are fabricated using magnetically-active elastomers, are capable of large deformations, and are actuated remotely thus allowing for small robot size. This combination of properties is appealing to the minimally invasive surgical community, potentially allowing navigation to regions of the anatomy previously deemed inaccessible. Due to the low forces involved, one particular challenge is functionalizing such magnetic devices. To address this limitation we introduce a proof-of-concept variable stiffness robot controlled by remote magnetic actuation, capable of grasping objects of varying sizes. We demonstrate a controlled and reversible high deformation coiling action induced via a transient homogeneous magnetic field and a synchronized sliding nitinol backbone. Our soft magnetic coiling grasper is visually tracked and controlled during three experimental demonstrations. We exhibit a maximum coiling deformation angle of 400 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{\circ }$</tex-math></inline-formula> .

Cross-Viewpoint Semantic Mapping: Integrating Human and Robot Perspectives for Improved 3D Semantic Reconstruction.

Allocentric semantic 3D maps are highly useful for a variety of human-machine interaction related tasks since egocentric viewpoints can be derived by the machine for the human partner. Class labels and map interpretations, however, may differ or could be missing for the participants due to the different perspectives. Particularly, when considering the viewpoint of a small robot, which significantly differs from the viewpoint of a human. In order to overcome this issue, and to establish common ground, we extend an existing real-time 3D semantic reconstruction pipeline with semantic matching across human and robot viewpoints. We use deep recognition networks, which usually perform well from higher (i.e., human) viewpoints but are inferior from lower viewpoints, such as that of a small robot. We propose several approaches for acquiring semantic labels for images taken from unusual perspectives. We start with a partial 3D semantic reconstruction from the human perspective that we transfer and adapt to the small robot's perspective using superpixel segmentation and the geometry of the surroundings. The quality of the reconstruction is evaluated in the Habitat simulator and a real environment using a robot car with an RGBD camera. We show that the proposed approach provides high-quality semantic segmentation from the robot's perspective, with accuracy comparable to the original one. In addition, we exploit the gained information and improve the recognition performance of the deep network for the lower viewpoints and show that the small robot alone is capable of generating high-quality semantic maps for the human partner. The computations are close to real-time, so the approach enables interactive applications.

Children’s Digital and Non-Digital Play Practices with Cozmo, the Toy Robot

Children’s Digital and Non-Digital Play Practices with Cozmo, the Toy Robot

'It is Really Interesting how that Small Robot Impacts Humans.' The Exploratory Analysis of Human Attitudes Toward the Social Robot Vector in Reddit and Youtube Comments"

We present the results of an exploratory analysis of human attitudes toward the social robot Vector. The study was conducted on the natural language data (2,635 comments) retrieved from Reddit and YouTube. We describe the tag-set used and the (manual) annotation procedure. We present and compare attitudes structure revealed from Reddit and YouTube data. Two main findings are described and discussed: almost 20% of comments from both Reddit and YouTube consist of various manifestations of attitudes toward Vector (mainly attribution of autonomy and declaration of feelings toward Vector); Reddit and YouTube comments differ when it comes to revealed attitudes structure -- the data source matters for attitudes studies.

Electrochemical grippers based on the tuning of surface forces for applications in micro- and nanorobotics

Existing approaches to robotic manipulation often rely on external mechanical devices, such as hydraulic and pneumatic devices or grippers. Both types of devices can be adapted to microrobots only with difficulties and for nanorobots not all. Here, we present a fundamentally different approach that is based on tuning the acting surface forces themselves rather than applying external forces by grippers. Tuning of forces is achieved by the electrochemical control of an electrode’s diffuse layer. Such electrochemical grippers can be integrated directly into an atomic force microscope, allowing for ‘pick and place’ procedures typically used in macroscopic robotics. Due to the low potentials involved, small autonomous robots could as well be equipped with these electrochemical grippers that will be particularly useful in soft robotics as well as nanorobotics. Moreover, these grippers have no moving parts and can be incorporated in new concepts for actuators. The concept can easily be scaled down and applied to a wide range of objects, such as colloids, proteins, and macromolecules.

Centimeter-Scale Underwater Robot With High-Speed Inspired by Jellyfish

Centimeter-scale underwater robots have important applications in underwater resource exploration, environmental monitoring, equipment fault diagnosis, and military applications. However, developing small underwater robots remains a challenge because of the limitation of miniaturized structures. In this study, we developed a small underwater robot (JR) with high-speed, inspired by the jellyfish ephyra, composed of a dish-shaped wing, a flexible joint, a rigid support, a semicircular air chamber, with a magnet and a coil integrated as the driving source. Robot JR combines the advantages of electromagnetic drive, flexible structures, miniaturization of the jellyfish robot is realized and high-speed swimming. The size of robot JR was only Φ 5 ×3 cm, which is the smallest besides the jellyfish robot driven by an external magnetic field. Meanwhile, its maximum movement speed reached 4.6 BL/s, which is also considerably faster than that of other jellyfish robots. The design and control strategies of our research will provide a reference for future design and lay a solid foundation for the practical use of small underwater robots.

Modeling a quasi-passive bipedal walker: when and where to kick

Walking is one of the most complex tasks a human being can perform. It takes several years to develop the patterns that enable a person to walk and run. Although it is now possible to replicate these patterns in machines such as robots, actuators are needed to control the pace and compensate for the energy loss of walking. However, in small robots (in the scale of centimeters) the size and weight of the actuators could be a limiting factor for their use. To solve this problem, quasi-passive walkers have been recently proposed. These walkers consist of several coupled rigid bodies, usually forming a biped, that move on flat surfaces in the presence of a gravitational field. It is well known that these bipeds can descend on small slope planes without the need for actuators. Walking on horizontal planes requires the presence of actuators to initiate and maintain the pace, however, these actuators could be small enough to ”kick” the walker at the right point at the right time. In this work, we present a physical-mathematical model of a bipedal walker composed of five rigid bodies (two legs, two feet, and the hip) moving in a horizontal plane. The model focuses on the natural motion of the biped under certain initial conditions with the ultimate goal of determining the best position of the actuators and the actuation time to maintain the gait. This model could be used as a guide for the construction of small laboratory-scale walkers and as a teaching tool in biomedical engineering courses.

A small legged robot for inspection purposes

StreszczenieThe paper deals with mobile robots with special emphasis on walking robots. A review of applications of particular types of mobile robots in various applications has been carried out. The validity of the use of walking robots in inspection tasks has been analyzed. A list of commercially available solutions has been presented and their parameters compared. A concept of a miniature walking robot for inspection tasks requiring operation in a confined space has been proposed. The design of the prototype, the structural solutions used, the system diagram and the structure of the control algorithms are presented. Conclusions and observations on the design process are presented. A set of modifications and solutions enabling the application of the robot in real inspection conditions have been proposed. The validity of the presented concept has been analyzed.

Bioinspired Synergy Strategies Empower Small‐Scale Robots with Higher Performance

Small‐scale robots need to be agile to perform various tasks in complex environments and the design faces great challenges with limited size and power consumption. However, the advent of advanced functional materials, compliant structures/mechanisms, and flexible fabrication techniques has brought new evolution directions to robotics. These technologies enrich the robots' actuation strategies, improving their performance of small robots while simplifying the complexity of the system and thus making it possible to be applied in diverse scenarios, such as disaster rescue, medical, and environmental exploration. In nature, small organisms have shown numerous efficient survival strategies. They can easily achieve locomotion tasks with low energy consumption. For example, dragonflies complete long flights with the help of wind, and stenus (one kind of rove beetle) uses the surface tension of liquids to dodge prey quickly. Insects are usually considered to be agile, efficient, and intelligent, which is the same requirement as for small robots. Yet the corresponding bioinspired design strategies bring new opportunities and challenges to the development of small‐scale robots. Herein, the development trends of small‐scale robots are analyzed and discussed, and several potential bioinspired synergy strategies are induced, which may be useful for the future design of insect‐level soft robots.

Ultra-stable and tough bioinspired crack-based tactile sensor for small legged robots

For legged robots, collecting tactile information is essential for stable posture and efficient gait. However, mounting sensors on small robots weighing less than 1 kg remain challenges in terms of the sensor’s durability, flexibility, sensitivity, and size. Crack-based sensors featuring ultra-sensitivity, small-size, and flexibility could be a promising candidate, but performance degradation due to crack growing by repeated use is a stumbling block. This paper presents an ultra-stable and tough bio-inspired crack-based sensor by controlling the crack depth using silver nanowire (Ag NW) mesh as a crack stop layer. The Ag NW mesh inspired by skin collagen structure effectively mitigated crack propagation. The sensor was very thin, lightweight, sensitive, and ultra-durable that maintains its sensitivity during 200,000 cycles of 0.5% strain. We demonstrate sensor’s feasibility by implementing the tactile sensation to bio-inspired robots, and propose statistical and deep learning-based analysis methods which successfully distinguished terrain type.