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Excellent obstacle surmounting performance is essential for the robotic vehicles in uneven terrain. However, existing robotic vehicles depend on complex mechanisms or control algorithms to surmount an obstacle. Therefore, this paper aims to propose a new simple configuration of an all-terrain robotic vehicle with eight wheels including four-swing arms.

This vehicle is driven by distributed hydraulic motors which provide high mobility. It possesses the ability to change the posture by means of cooperation of the four-swing arms. This ensures that the vehicle can adapt to complex terrain. In this paper, the bionic mechanism, control design and steering method of the vehicle are introduced. Then, the kinematic model of the center of gravity is studied. Afterward, the obstacle surmounting performance based on a static model is analyzed. Finally, the simulation based on ADAMS and the prototype experiment is carried out.

The experiment results demonstrate that the robotic vehicle can surmount an obstacle 2.29 times the height of the wheel radius, which verifies the feasibility of this new configuration. Therefore, this vehicle has excellent uneven terrain adaptability.

This paper proposes a new configuration of an all-terrain robotic vehicle with four-swing arms. With simple mechanism and control algorithms, the vehicle has a high efficiency of surmounting an obstacle. It can surmount a vertical obstacle 2.29 times the height of the wheel radius.

Wall climbing robots' volume is needed to be very small in fields that workspace is limited, such as anti‐terror scouting, industry pipe network inspecting and so on. The purpose of this paper is to design a miniature wall climbing robot with biomechanical suction cups actuated by shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators.

Based on characteristics of biologic suction apparatuses, the biomechanical suction cup is designed first. Theory analysis of the suction cup is made considering elastic plate's deflection and SMAs constitutive model. A triangular close linkage locomotion mechanism is chosen for the miniature robot because of its simple structure and control. The robot's gait, kinematics, and control system are all illustrated in this paper.

Experiments indicate that the suction cup can be used as an adhesion mechanism for miniature wall climbing robots, and the miniature robot prototype with biomechanical suction cups can move in straight line and turn with a fixed angle on an inclined glass wall.

This paper describes how a miniature wall climbing robot with biomechanical suction cups actuated by SMA without any air pump is designed.

The paper aims to develop a cownose ray-inspired robotic fish which can be propelled by oscillating and chordwise twisting pectoral fins.

The bionic pectoral fin which can simultaneously realize the combination of oscillating motion and chordwise twisting motion is designed based on analyzing the movement of cownose ray’s pectoral fins. The structural design and control system construction of the robotic fish are presented. Finally, a series of swimming experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the design for the bionic pectoral fin.

The experimental results show that the deformation of the bionic pectoral fin can be well close to that of the cownose ray’s. The bionic pectoral fin can produce effective angle of attack, and the thrust generated can propel robotic fish effectively. Furthermore, the tests of swimming performance in the water tank show that the robotic fish can achieve a maximum forward speed of 0.43 m/s (0.94 times of body length per second) and an excellent turning maneuverability with a small radius.

The oscillating and pitching motion can be obtained simultaneously by the active control of chordwise twisting motion of the bionic pectoral fin, which can better imitate the movement of cownose ray’s pectoral fin. The designed bionic pectoral fin can provide an experimental platform for further study of the effect of the spanwise and chordwise flexibility on propulsion performance.

Vertical handover has been grown rapidly due to the mobility model improvements. These improvements are limited to certain circumstances and do not provide the support in the generic mobility, but offering vertical handover management in HetNets is very crucial and challenging. Therefore, this paper presents a vertical handoff management method using the effective network identification method.

This paper presents a vertical handoff management method using the effective network identification method. The handover triggering schemes are initially modeled to find the suitable position for starting handover using computed coverage area of the WLAN access point or cellular base station. Consequently, inappropriate networks are removed to determine the optimal network for performing the handover process. Accordingly, the network identification approach is introduced based on an adaptive particle-based Sailfish optimizer (APBSO). The APBSO is newly designed by incorporating self-adaptive particle swarm optimization (APSO) in Sailfish optimizer (SFO) and hence, modifying the update rule of the APBSO algorithm based on the location of the solutions in the past iterations. Also, the proposed APBSO is utilized for training deep-stacked autoencoder to choose the optimal weights. Several parameters, like end to end (E2E) delay, jitter, signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR), packet loss, handover probability (HOP) are considered to find the best network.

The developed APBSO-based deep stacked autoencoder outperformed than other methods with a minimal delay of 11.37 ms, minimal HOP of 0.312, maximal stay time of 7.793 s and maximal throughput of 12.726 Mbps, respectively.

The network identification approach is introduced based on an APBSO. The APBSO is newly designed by incorporating self-APSO in SFO and hence, modifying the update rule of the APBSO algorithm based on the location of the solutions in the past iterations. Also, the proposed APBSO is used for training deep-stacked autoencoder to choose the optimal weights. Several parameters, like E2E delay, jitter, SINR, packet loss and HOP are considered to find the best network. The developed APBSO-based deep stacked autoencoder outperformed than other methods with minimal delay minimal HOP, maximal stay time and maximal throughput.

Entomology is a useful tool when applied to engineering challenges that have been solved in nature. Especially when these special abilities of olfactory sensation, vision, auditory perception, fly, jump, navigation, chemical synthesis, exquisite structure and others were connected with mechanization, informationization and intelligentization of modern science and technology, and produced innumerable classical bionic products. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

All kinds of special abilities of insects and application status have been described and discussed in order to summarize the advanced research examples and supply bibliographic reference to the latters. Future perspectives and challenges in the use of insect bionics were also given.

In the period of life sciences and information sciences, insect bionics not only promoted the development of modern science and technology on the sides of mechanics, molecule, energy, information and control greatly but also provided new ideas and technologies for the crisis of science and technology, food, environment and ecosystem.

It may provide strategies to solve the problems and be a source of good ideas for researchers.

This paper aims to propose an integrated bionic optimal design system to assist engineers in bionic design tasks. In this age of ecological awareness and sustainability, engineers are increasingly applying bionics to their product designs. A recent surge of research on bionics has presented new opportunities and challenges. To deal with these challenges, an integrated design system equipped with the capabilities of conducting biologically inspired design, solving technical contradictions, optimizing design parameters and verifying design effectiveness is required.

This study proposes a two-level analysis to help decision makers conduct multi-faceted observation and assessment on conceptual bionic design. The contradictions incurred when transferring biological principals to engineering design are solved using BioTRIZ, and the conceptual design is then created. This study conducts computer-aided engineering analysis, incorporating the Taguchi method and TOPSIS method, to obtain the optimal design of bionic products.

The proposed design process focuses on improving the product structure instead of changing the materials, and thus, the authors are able to put the goals of saving energy, environmental protection and sustainability into practice.

Through the design and analysis processes, the authors prove that their designed bionic-fan can effectively enhance operational efficiency and reduce the aerodynamic noise. The system can provide a practical tool for engineers intending to accomplish complete designs and verifications using bionics.

Most existing design methodologies that have attempted to combine biology with engineering design have fallen short in their level of thoroughness. This study proposes a complete bionic design system by integrating the processes of bionic-inspired design, optimization and verification.

This study aims to propose a new methodology to develop bistable textile structures with two different states of heat and moisture transfer by taking inspiration from the animal kingdom. Bionic approaches controlling thermoregulation were analyzed, implemented at the textile level and evaluated. Therefore, 4D technology has been applied. This paper presents all the steps necessary for transferring bionic concepts on the textile level by using rapid prototyping and the 4D-textile approach.

Concepts for thermoregulation are derived from bionic approaches and are evaluated by the metrics of low cost and high adaptability to quickly changing needs. Subsequently, bionic approaches were implemented as prototypes by printing on a pre-stretched textile using an fused deposition modeling printer. The printed patterns and properties were investigated, and the effects of each parameter were evaluated. Finally, the prototypes were tested by comparing the data from the thermal imaging camera of the two bistable states.

This paper presents two printing pattern concepts for creating textiles with two different states of thermal and moisture transfer. The results show that bionic approaches for thermoregulation transferred to the textile level are possible and quickly put into practice through 3D-printing technology as a tool for rapid prototyping.

The presented methodology fills the technological gap for quickly transferring bionic approaches to the textile level using the 4D-Textile technology. In addition, the possibility of generating two bistable states with different thermophysiological properties in one textile and switching between them easily was shown.

The purpose of this paper is to design a kind of air bearing which is based on bionics. Compare with ordinary air bearing, the air pressure consumption is reduced and energy is saved.

This paper puts forward a proposition that a bionic bearing structure is designed based on the bionics principle. First, the authors analyze the microstructure of the wings of long-eared owls and the structural mapping model is established. Second, the theoretical formula is derived through the model, and the structural parameters are optimized by sequence quadratic program (SQP). Lastly, the experimental model is made by 3D printing technology, and the experimental data are analyzed to verify the feasibility of the theory.

By comparing the experimental data, it can be seen that the air pressure of the original air bearing is reduced by 27 per cent, and the validity of the theory and design method is verified.

In this paper, a design method of air bearing based on bionic principle is presented, which can save the air pressure required for working of air bearing, and the structure of air bearing is expected to be applied in engineering.

Gears are prone to instantaneous failure when operating under extreme conditions, affecting the machinery’s service life. With numerous types of gear meshing and complex operating conditions, this study focuses on the gear–rack mechanism. This study aims to analyze the effects and optimization of biomimetic texture parameters on the line contact tribological behavior of gear–rack mechanisms under starvation lubrication conditions.

Inspired by the microstructure of shark skin surface, a diamond-shaped biomimetic texture was designed to improve the tribological performance of gear–rack mechanism under starved lubrication conditions. The line contact meshing process of gear–rack mechanisms under lubrication-deficient conditions was simulated by using a block-on-ring test. Using the response surface method, this paper analyzed the effects of bionic texture parameters (width, depth and spacing) on the tribological performance (friction coefficient and wear amount) of tested samples under line contact and starved lubrication conditions.

The experimental results show an optimal proportional relationship between the texture parameters, which made the tribological performance of the tested samples the best. The texture parameters were optimized by using the main objective function method, and the preferred combination of parameters was a width of 69 µm, depth of 24 µm and spacing of 1,162 µm.

The research results have practical guiding significance for designing line contact motion pairs surface texture and provide a theoretical basis for optimizing line contact motion pairs tribological performance under extreme working conditions.

Snake-inspired robots are of great significance in many fields because of their great adaptability to the environment. This paper aims to systematically illustrate the research progress of snake-inspired robots according to their application environments. It classifies snake-inspired robots according to the numbers of degrees of freedom in each joint and briefly describes the modeling and control of snake-inspired robots. Finally, the application fields and future development trends of snake-inspired robots are analyzed and discussed.

This paper summarizes the research progress of snake-inspired robots and clarifies the requirements of snake-inspired robots for self-adaptive environments and multi-functional tasks. By equipping various sensors and tool modules, snake-inspired robots are developed from fixed-point operation in a single environment to autonomous operation in an amphibious environment. Finally, it is pointed out that snake-inspired robots will be developed in terms of rigid and flexible deformable structure, long endurance and multi-function and intelligent autonomous control.

Inspired by the modular and reconfigurable concepts of biological snakes, snake-inspired robots are well adapted to unknown and changing environments. Therefore, snake-inspired robots will be widely used in industrial, military, medical, post-disaster search and rescue applications. Snake-inspired robots have become a hot research topic in the field of bionic robots.

This paper summarizes the research status of snake-inspired robots, which facilitates the reader to be a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the research progress of snake-inspired robots. This helps the reader to gain inspiration from biological perspectives.