引文信息：
Faheem Ahmed, Muhammad Waqas, Bushra Shaikh, Umair Khan, Afaque Manzoor Soomro, Suresh Kumar, Hina Ashraf, Fida Hussain Memon & Kyung Hyun Choi.Multi-material Bio-inspired Soft Octopus Robot for Underwater Synchronous Swimming. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 2022, 19(5),1229–1241.Multi-material Bio-inspired Soft Octopus Robot for Underwater Synchronous Swimming
1 Department of Mechatronics Engineering, Jeju National University, Jeju, 63243, South Korea
2 Department of Electrical Engineering, Sukkur IBA University, Airport Road, Sukkur, 65200, Sindh, Pakistan
3 Advanced Micro Mechatronics and Energy Lab, Sukkur IBA University, Sukkur, 65200, Pakistan
4 Department of Ocean Sciences, Jeju National University, Jeju, 63243, South Korea
Abstract
Inspired by the simple yet amazing morphology of the Octopus, we propose the design, fabrication, and characterization of multi-material bio-inspired soft Octopus robot (Octobot). 3D printed molds for tentacles and head were used. The tentacles of the Octobot were casted using Ecoflex-0030 while head was fabricated using relatively flexible material, i.e., OOMOO-25. The head is attached to the functionally responsive tentacles (each tentacle is of 79.12 mm length and 7 void space diameter), whereas Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) muscle wires of 0.5 mm thickness are used in Octobot tentacles for dual thrust generation and actuation of Octobot. The tentacles were separated in two groups and were synchronously actuated. Each tentacle of the developed Octobot contains a pair of SMA muscles (SMA-α and SMA-β). SMA-α muscles being the main actuator, was powered by 9 V, 350 mA power supply, whereas SMA-β was used to provide back thrust and thus helps to increase the actuation frequency. Simulation work of the proposed model was performed in the SolidWorks environment to verify the vertical velocity using the octopus tentacle actuation. The design morphology of Octobot was optimized using simulation and TRACKER software by analyzing the experimental data of angle, displacement, and velocity of real octopus. The as-developed Octobot can swim at variable frequencies (0.5–2 Hz) with the average speed of 25 mm/s (0.5 BLS). Therefore, the proposed soft Octopus robot showed an excellent capability of mimicking the gait pattern of its natural counterpart.
Fig. W1 a Designing using the 3D designing software followed by 3D printing of the molds in parts, such as the Octobot tentacle and the head, are designed in two parts each, b preparing the Ecoflex-0030 for casting Octobot tentacles, whereas preparing the OOMOO-25 for casting head, c after that heat is applied for training the SMA Muscle wires for required shape, d casting and installing trained muscle wires in Octobot tentacles, e in-house-built LabVIEW software for monitoring and control of the Octobots.
Fig. W2 Working mechanism of the Soft Octobot, a controller diagram for Octobot showing the layout of the control and flow of PWM pulses along with the tags of the components used and b the prototype demonstration of the Octobot set-up and PWM pulses for alternative leg groups.
Fig. W3 Figure showing the simulation work of Octobot, whereas the Octobot tentacles are divided into two group and each group contains four tentacles. a The first group of tentacles is being actuated as shown and b after the PWM pulse is stopped to first group it is being applied to the second group of tentacles being actuated.
Fig. W4 taken from the synchronous swimming experiment of Octobot; i–v) are showing the actuation of the first four tentacles of the Octobot (Group A) under applied PWM pulse, whereas, vi–x) are similarly showing the actuation of the Group B tentacles when the PWM pulse is stopped to Group A and applied to Group B. The sequential pictures taken at the fixed time step size.
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