Robo Tonics – TechieTonics

Plant-inspired Controller for Robotic Arms: Biomimicry

June 6, 2023June 6, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Biomimicry is the practice of imitating biological systems and processes. So far, it has been a valuable approach in robotics. By copying animals’ designs, engineers have tried to replicate billions of years of evolution. It has resulted in highly efficient and adaptable designs that nature has already passed on to. For instance, energy-efficient walking patterns inspired by animal gaits or bio inspired vision systems or lizard inspired four-legged robot.

Bio-Inspired Device that Mimics Human Eye: Artificial Vision Systems

May 15, 2023May 15, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Inspired by the natural design of our retinas, scientists at Penn State have created a sensor array using narrowband perovskite photodetectors to replicate the function of our cone cells. Cone cells in our eyes are responsible for color vision. And they are sensitive to red, green, and blue light wavelengths.

A Quadruped Robot with Proprioception and a Tail: Biomimicry

April 9, 2023April 9, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Nature has always inspired philosophers, scientists, and researchers alike. When it comes to solve human problems or create innovative products and technologies, studying nature’s designs and processes lead to more sustainable and efficient solutions. Afterall, nature has had millions of years to develop solutions to problems. These solutions have been honed through the process of natural selection. Learning and getting inspired from nature’s solutions, is called biomimicry. Designers, engineers, and scientists are inspired from nature to create more sustainable and efficient products and systems.

Real-time Neural MPC: Deep Learning & Model Predictive Control Framework

March 13, 2023March 13, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Model predictive control (MPC) is a powerful technique that has gained popularity in recent years for controlling the movements of robotic agents. It involves using a model of the agent’s dynamics to predict its future behaviour. Followed by optimization of this behaviour to achieve a desired goal while also satisfying a set of constraints. MPC algorithms are capable of handling complex scenarios and can consider various factors such as the agent’s physical constraints, environmental conditions, and the dynamics of other objects in the environment. This makes MPC a popular choice…

Lizard Inspired Four-legged Robot: Biomimicry

February 4, 2023February 4, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

Technological advancement has opened-up exciting possibilities for research in space and celestial bodies beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. The use of robots in space exploration has greatly increased our understanding of other planets, especially Mars, and its possibility for supporting life. The exploration of Mars and its surface for extra-terrestrial life has always been a fascinating undertaking for astronomers. Additionally, the discovery of resources on Mars, such as water and minerals, could be an asset in future human missions.

Butterfly Robots with Bistable Wings: Biomimicry

November 24, 2022January 11, 2023 Pooja Kashyap

In an effort to create faster and more energy-efficient soft robots, researchers at North Carolina State University have created a prototype of swimming soft robots based on manta rays. The team got inspired from the biomechanics of the marine animal. Rate of swimming for most of the (swimming) soft robot is one body length per second, manta rays, however, glide at much faster rate. Their swimming efficiency triggered the scientists to look into the potentiality of creating a similar robot, biomechanically.

Crab Inspired all weather Vision System: Biomimicry

August 4, 2022August 4, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

To improve the imaging component in robotics, researchers have been trying to create various types of highly performing cameras, sensors and artificial vision systems. Most of the vision systems are bio-inspired that is, they have been emulated from the systems and elements of nature including humans, animals, insects and fish. These systems, however, have their own restrictions because they operate in limited environment respectively. For instance, majority of (bio-inspired) existing sensors and cameras works either one of the following scenarios: on the ground like biomimetic eye with a hemispherical…

Shapeshifting Nanobots to Brush and Floss Teeth: Toothbrushing Microbots

July 14, 2022July 14, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Toothbrush, or the heads per say, have not much evolved since ages, from rectangular they have only graduated to diamond shaped geometry. I really doubt how far does the new shape has been able to reach the teeth in the back. In the dental hygiene sequence floss, brush and rinse go hand in hand. And each step is an important and at times, cumbersome task especially for people with disabilities. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have put in an effort to combine these three steps in one with the…

New Microbot Scuttle like a Crab: Biomimicry

May 26, 2022May 26, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Engineers at Northwestern University have developed nano-scale robots that scuttle like small peekytoe crab. The tiny crab-bots measure around half-millimeter wide. Like the decapod crustaceans, the bot can bend, twist, crawl, walk, turn and even jump. Not only the nano crab like devices, engineers have also created same sized robotic inchworms, crickets and beetles. Researchers envision that their technology will explore practical tasks inside tightly confined spaces.

SQuRO, Quadruped Robotic Rat: Biomimicry

April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Nature has always inspired robotics engineers to design bots with the same agility and efficiency. And this is also one of the reasons why researchers look up to biomimicry to solve human design challenges. When it comes to navigate tight and congested arenas wouldn’t rodents be the best options to design a device? Researchers at Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) thought the same. According to Qing Shi, a Professor at BIT, legged robots have limitations when operating in narrow spaces. Micro quadruped robots too can face performance issues due to…

Magnetic Tentacle Robot for Autonomous Endoscopy: Soft Catheters

April 5, 2022April 5, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Magnetic tentacle robot, strange it may sound but researchers at STORM Lab at the University of Leeds have come up with a tiny canular form of robot that can explore the smallest bronchial tubes in the lungs. The nano tubiform bot measures around 2 millimetres in diameter. That happens to be two times the size of the tip of a ballpoint pen. The tentacle robot will be guided from the outside with the help of (external) magnets.

Insect sized Flying Robot with Flapping Wings: Micro air Vehicle

February 4, 2022February 4, 2022 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at the University of Bristol, U.K. have fabricated a flapping-wing microrobot that can produce more power than a similar-sized insect. The micro-air vehicle is a product of biomimicry, inspired from bees and other flying insects.

Wireless RF Powered Insect Scale Aerial Vehicle: Miniature UAV

December 16, 2021December 16, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at Toyota Central R&D Labs have developed a wireless radiofrequency power based tiny aerial robot.

Biomimicry: LEONARDO, the Bipedal Robot can Walk and Fly

October 7, 2021October 7, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Nature not only inspire poets, artists, painters but also engineers. In an attempt to simulate the locomotion of birds, researchers at Caltech have developed a bipedal robot that has a movement that is between walking and flying.

Swimming is Dynamics of Two Nervous System: AgnathaX

August 16, 2021August 17, 2021 Pooja Kashyap

Starting in the early 1900s, one of the problems that baffled neuroscientists worldwide was the role of central and peripheral nervous systems in swimming locomotion. In other words, how swimming locomotion is generated and how vertebrates synchronize the rhythm that is required for the locomotion.