Vine-Inspired Continuum Tendril Robots and Circumnutations

Analysis and Experiments for Tendril - Type Robots

New models for the Tendril continuous backbone robot, and other similarly constructed robots, are introduced and expanded upon in this thesis. The ability of the application of geometric models to result in more precise control of the Tendril manipulator is evaluated on a Tendril prototype. We examine key issues underlying the design and operation of ―soft‖ robots featuring continuous body (―co...

Neurorobotics: Neurobiologically Inspired Robots

Neurorobots1 are robotic devices that have control systems based on principles of the nervous system. These models operate on the premise that the “brain is embodied and the body is embedded in the environment.” Therefore, neurorobots are grounded and situated in a real environment. The real environment is required for two reasons. First, simulating an environment can introduce unwanted and uni...

Biologically Inspired Robots

Continuum Robots: An Approach to Safer Robots

There is a growing need for robots that can not only function in close proximity to human beings but also physically interact with them safely. This calls for a paradigm shift in the way robots are designed. Towards this end, we propose the use of continuum robots to improve safety in physical human robot interaction (pHRI). Continuum robots have been looked at in the past for applications whic...

Insect Inspired Robots

Insect behaviour has been a rich source of inspiration for the field of robotics as the perception and navigation problems encountered by autonomous robots are faced also by insects. In this paper, we introduce a research platform, the Insectbot, that was built as a testbed for new biologically-inspired, vision-based algorithms and systems. The Insectbot is a groundbased robot but it is capable...