A class of bionic hyper-redundant robots mimicking the bird's neck

Some birds' necks show excellent flexible bending ability, which can be mimicked to design bionic robot. The main challenge is how to deal with the bird neck's inherent flexibility and redundant degrees of freedom. In this study, a design method of a class of bionic hyper-redundant robots mimicking the neck of birds is proposed, taking the chicken as an example. In our design, a bionic vertebrae unit (BVU) with the combination of springs and universal joint is first defined to simulate chicken cervical vertebrae, which is further employed to investigate the connection and motion characteristics. Then, three BVUs in parallel driven by three steel wires form a single cervical segment. Finally, connecting four identical cervical segments constitutes the proposed bionic hyper-redundant robot. The kinematics of the driving space, joint space and task space of the proposed bionic hyper-redundant robot are investigated by combing the geometric analysis method and Denavit-Hartemberg (D-H) parameter method. The reachable workspace is further computed by the Monte Carlo method. Furthermore, the maximum position deviation of the single plane motion experiment on the prototype is about 5.8% of the total length of the four cervical segments. A series of displays of space shape, including S-shaped bionic bending configuration and the successful winding and lifting of the object of interest, proves that the proposed robot has excellent flexibility and application potential and that the proposed design method is effective.

Automated summary

In this study, a design method for bionic hyper-redundant robots imitating the neck of birds is proposed, using the chicken as an example. The design involves the simulation of chicken cervical vertebrae using a bionic vertebrae unit (BVU) composed of springs and universal joint. The proposed robot, composed of four identical cervical segments, exhibits excellent flexibility and application potential.