Hector the stick insect-inspired robot takes its first steps

Hector the stick insect-inspired robot traversing an obstacle course (Photo: Bielefeld University)

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Hector, the stick insect-inspired robot built by a research team at Bielefeld University in Germany that we first covered in 2011, could be forgiven for feeling lonely as the only one of its kind in world, but has lately been too busy learning to walk to worry on its unique status. It is hoped that Hector, which stands for Hexapod Cognitive autonomously Operating Robot, will benefit not only roboticists but also biologists interested in animal movement.

Most six-legged robots tend to walk with a tripod or another fixed leg gait. Hector, however, has a "free gait," meaning it has flexible leg control to deal with rough surfaces with each leg making its own decision of when and where to move. Called "active posture adaptation," it means using its sensors, Hector can figure out how to surmount basic obstacles, such as a wooden platform.

Modeled on a stick insect, Hector features a very light exoskeleton made from carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic (CFRP). Along with its many sensors and short-range cameras, the unique robot has 18 passive electric joints that mimic the way muscles act.

"The way that the elasticity in Hector’s drives acts is comparable to the way that muscles act in biological systems," says Professor Dr. Axel Schneider. "However, elasticity alone is not enough for Hector to be able to walk through a natural environment containing obstacles. The challenge was to develop a control system that would coordinate the movements of its legs in difficult surroundings as well."

"All sub-systems have to communicate with each other for the robot to walk without any difficulties," says researcher Jan Paskarbeit. "Otherwise, for example, Hector might have too many legs in the air at one time, become unstable, and fall over. Moreover, the legs have to be able to react to collisions with obstacles. We have dealt with this by implementing a reflex behavior for climbing over objects."

Hector can thus behave rather like an actual insect and make decisions about how to best proceed through its immediate surroundings. The researchers say that in the future, Hector could also serve as a platform for biologists and roboticists to test hypotheses about animal locomotion.

A virtual prototype was also built to test things out without risking damage to the robot. The scientists also studied the motion of real stick insects to understand the control mechanisms in the insect’s nervous system and turn them into viable computer models.

Hector is still something of an incomplete stick insect robot, but its creators say by 2017 it will be much improved as it is part of a major project at Cluster of Excellence Cognitive Interaction Technology (CITEC). The team is already created a prototype with two lateral cameras and two tactile feelers, and is currently working on attaching far-range sensors to Hector's "head."

自動翻譯僅供參考

受竹節(jié)蟲啟發(fā)邁出研發(fā)Hector機(jī)器人的第一步 12月18日，2014Hector的竹節(jié)蟲啟發(fā)的機(jī)器人將其第一個(gè)steps

赫克托的竹節(jié)蟲啟發(fā)的機(jī)器人穿越障礙賽（攝影：比勒費(fèi)爾德大學(xué)）

圖片廊（圖像）

赫克托，由一個(gè)研究小組在比勒費(fèi)爾德大學(xué)在德國，我們在2011年首次覆蓋建竹節(jié)蟲啟發(fā)的機(jī)器人，可以原諒感到孤獨(dú)作為其在世界上只有一個(gè)，但近來一直忙于學(xué)習(xí)走路擔(dān)心其獨(dú)特的地位。希望赫克托，它代表六足認(rèn)知自主作業(yè)機(jī)器人，不僅有利于機(jī)器人專家，而且生物學(xué)家感興趣的動物的運(yùn)動。

大多數(shù)六腿機(jī)器人傾向于步行三腳架或另一個(gè)固定腿步態(tài)。然而，Hector有一個(gè)“自由步態(tài)”，這意味著它有靈活的腿部控制，以應(yīng)付粗糙的表面，每條腿作出自己的決定何時(shí)何地移動。所謂“主動姿勢適應(yīng)”，是指使用傳感器，Hector可以找出如何克服基本障礙，如木制平臺。

仿照竹節(jié)蟲，赫克托擁有很輕的外骨骼制成碳纖維增強(qiáng)塑料（CFRP）。隨著眾多的傳感器和短距離攝像頭，獨(dú)特的機(jī)器人有18個(gè)被動式電動關(guān)節(jié)，模仿的方式肌肉行事。

“在Hector的驅(qū)動器上的彈性作用的方式是相媲美的方式肌肉的生物系統(tǒng)的行為， “施乃德博士教授說。 “但是，僅僅彈性是不夠的赫克托才能夠穿行含障礙的自然環(huán)境。我們面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是制定一個(gè)控制系統(tǒng)，該系統(tǒng)將協(xié)調(diào)它的腿在困難的環(huán)境中的動作一樣。”

“所有子-systems與對方的機(jī)器人，沒有任何困難，走路溝通，“研究員簡Paskarbeit說。 “否則，例如，赫可能具有太多的腿在空氣中在同一時(shí)間，變得不穩(wěn)定，并翻倒。此外，腿必須能夠與障礙反應(yīng)以碰撞。我們已經(jīng)通過實(shí)施反射處理了這個(gè)攀登過對象的行為。“

赫克托因此可以表現(xiàn)得有點(diǎn)像一個(gè)實(shí)際的昆蟲，并就如何最好地著手通過其周圍的環(huán)境決定的。研究人員說，在未來，赫克托也可以作為生物學(xué)家和機(jī)器人專家，以測試對動物運(yùn)動的假說提供了平臺。

虛擬樣機(jī)還內(nèi)置了測試的東西出來，而不用擔(dān)心損壞的機(jī)器人。科學(xué)家們還研究了真正的竹節(jié)蟲的議案，了解昆蟲的神經(jīng)系統(tǒng)的控制機(jī)制，使之成為可行的計(jì)算機(jī)模型。

赫克托卻仍然是一個(gè)不完整的竹節(jié)蟲機(jī)器人，但它的創(chuàng)造者說，到2017年這將是大為改善，因?yàn)樗亲吭秸J(rèn)知交互技術(shù)（CITEC）的集群重大項(xiàng)目的一部分。該團(tuán)隊(duì)已經(jīng)創(chuàng)建了一個(gè)原型帶有兩個(gè)側(cè)面攝像頭和兩個(gè)觸感觸角，目前正在安裝遠(yuǎn)范圍傳感器赫克托