Laboratory for Bioinspired, Bionic, Nano, Meta Materials and Mechanics, Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, University of Trento, Trento 38122, Italy.
Laboratory of Bioinspired Soft Robotics, Center for Convergent Technologies, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova 16163, Italy.
J R Soc Interface. 2023 Aug;20(205):20230330. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2023.0330. Epub 2023 Aug 9.
The current study investigates the body-environment interaction and exploits the passive viscoelastic properties of the body to perform undulatory locomotion. The investigations are carried out using a mathematical model based on a dry frictional environment, and the results are compared with the performance obtained using a physical model. The physical robot is a wheel-based modular system with flexible joints moving on different substrates. The influence of the spatial distribution of body stiffness on speed performance is also investigated. Our results suggest that the environment affects the performance of undulatory locomotion based on the distribution of body stiffness. While stiffness may vary with the environment, we have established a qualitative constitutive law that holds across environments. Specifically, we expect the stiffness distribution to exhibit either an ascending-descending or an ascending-plateau pattern along the length of the object, from head to tail. Furthermore, undulatory locomotion showed sensitivity to contact mechanics: solid-solid or solid-viscoelastic contact produced different locomotion kinematics. Our results elucidate how terrestrial limbless animals achieve undulatory locomotion performance by exploiting the passive properties of the environment and the body. Application of the results obtained may lead to better performing long-segmented robots that exploit the suitability of passive body dynamics and the properties of the environment in which they need to move.
本研究调查了体-环境相互作用，并利用体的被动黏弹性特性来实现波动运动。研究是基于一个干摩擦环境的数学模型进行的，并将结果与物理模型的性能进行了比较。物理机器人是一个基于轮子的模块化系统，具有柔性关节，可以在不同的基板上移动。还研究了体刚度的空间分布对速度性能的影响。我们的结果表明，环境会影响基于体刚度分布的波动运动性能。虽然刚度可能随环境而变化，但我们已经建立了一个适用于各种环境的定性本构定律。具体来说，我们期望刚度分布在对象的长度上（从头至尾）呈现出上升-下降或上升-平台的模式。此外，波动运动对接触力学表现出敏感性：固-固或固-黏弹性接触会产生不同的运动学。我们的研究结果阐明了陆地无肢动物如何通过利用环境和身体的被动特性来实现波动运动性能。获得的结果的应用可能会导致更好的性能长节段机器人，利用被动的身体动力学和他们需要移动的环境的属性。
