arXiv:2511.01347cs.RO2025-11被引 1

无电子元件的蚯蚓机器人,靠气动逻辑阀实现自主蠕动行走。

Design and development of an electronics-free earthworm robot

  • 用改良气动逻辑阀与气囊执行器构建模块化系统,无需电子控制。
  • 实现自主蠕动运动,偏差小,可在复杂环境中稳定前行。
  • 适合危险环境应用,为无电源软体机器人提供新思路。

软体机器人因其柔性、自适应性和安全性广受关注,适用于多种场景。蚯蚓的波浪式蠕动运动高效且适合在狭小非结构化环境中移动,是生物启发设计的重要方向。现有仿蚯蚓机器人多采用气动驱动,但依赖体积大、耗电高的电子控制单元,限制了实用性。本文提出一种无电子元件的气动仿蚯蚓机器人,采用改进型气动逻辑门(PLG)设计。通过将预配置的PLG单元与气囊执行器集成,构建了即插即用的模块化系统,实现了无需外部电子组件的波浪式运动。我们对气囊执行器在不同工况下的性能进行了表征,并评估了机器人的运动表现。结果表明,基于改进PLG的控制系统能有效生成波浪传播,实现自主运动且偏差极小。本研究为无电子元件、波浪式软体机器人的开发提供了概念验证,该系统有望应用于危险环境中,对无需外接电源、可自适应移动的机器人具有重要意义。未来工作将优化设计并探索使用机载压缩空气源实现无绳运行。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Soft robotic systems have gained widespread attention due to their inherent flexibility, adaptability, and safety, making them well-suited for varied applications. Among bioinspired designs, earthworm locomotion has been extensively studied for its efficient peristaltic motion, enabling movement in confined and unstructured environments. Existing earthworm-inspired robots primarily utilize pneumatic actuation due to its high force-to-weight ratio and ease of implementation. However, these systems often rely on bulky, power-intensive electronic control units, limiting their practicality. In this work, we present an electronics-free, earthworm-inspired pneumatic robot utilizing a modified Pneumatic Logic Gate (PLG) design. By integrating preconfigured PLG units with bellow actuators, we achieved a plug-and-play style modular system capable of peristaltic locomotion without external electronic components. The proposed design reduces system complexity while maintaining efficient actuation. We characterize the bellow actuators under different operating conditions and evaluate the robots locomotion performance. Our findings demonstrate that the modified PLG-based control system effectively generates peristaltic wave propagation, achieving autonomous motion with minimal deviation. This study serves as a proof of concept for the development of electronics-free, peristaltic soft robots. The proposed system has potential for applications in hazardous environments, where untethered, adaptable locomotion is critical. Future work will focus on further optimizing the robot design and exploring untethered operation using onboard compressed air sources.

软体机器人气动驱动无电子系统

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