The sewer inspection robot MAKRO is an autonomous multi-segment robot with worm-like shape driven by wheels. It is currently under development in the project MAKRO-PLUS. The robot has to navigate autonomously within sewer systems. Its first tasks will be to take water probes, analyze it onboard, and measure positions of manholes and pipes to detect polluted-loaded sewage and to improve current ...

In this paper, a piezoelectric microrobot is modelled and simulated based on active force control (AFC) with a proportional (P) – type iterative learning algorithm (ILA) operating in a constrained environment for an in-pipe application. A mathematical model that represents the dynamic characteristics of microrobot has been developed considering the robot system subjected to different input exci...

this article presents an implementation of a reinforcement learning (rl) method for a snake like robot navigation. the paper starts with developing kinematics and dynamics model of a snake robot in serpentine locomotion followed by performing simulation and finishes with actual experimentation. first, gibbs-appell's method is used to obtain the robot dynamics. the robot is also modeled in simme...

Modular reconfigurable robots offer the promise of more versatility, robustness, and low cost. They are composed of simple and small modules, capable of attach and detach one to each other. In this paper, a modular worm-like robot composed of a chain of 8 similar modules is presented. A travelling wave, that moves from the tail to the head, propels the robot forward. The positions of the articu...

Inspired by its simple musculature, actuation and motion mechanisms, we have developed a small crawling robot that closely mimics the model organism of our choice: Caenorhabditis elegans. A thermal shape memory alloy (SMA) was selected as an actuator due to the similarities of its properties to C. elegans muscles. Based on the anatomy of C. elegans, a 12-unit robot was designed to generate a si...

This work presents a software methodology used to implement artiicial animated creatures. The proposed architecture deals with dynamics and kinematics issues and provides a well structured way to control the creature resources. Three artiicial creatures with diierent sen-sors/actuators/dynamics characteristics show the versatility of the architecture.\Roger-the-Crab" simulates a crab-like creat...