Sun, J and Zhou, C orcid.org/0000-0002-6677-0855 (2023) AeroTail: A Bio-inspired Aerodynamic Tail Mechanism for Robotic Balancing. In: 2023 28th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC). 28th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC), 30 Aug - 01 Sep 2023, Birmingham, UK. IEEE ISBN 979-8-3503-3585-9
Abstract
This paper presents a novel bio-inspired “tail” design that harnesses aerodynamic drag to generate torque for robotic balancing. Drawing inspiration from the natural world, this innovative approach aims to improve the efficiency of balancing robots while reducing their overall mass. While reaction wheels have been widely used for satellite stabilisation and inverted pendulum-like balancing robots, their inherent mass can be problematic in Earth's environment. Biomimetic research demonstrates that animal tails can produce torque for righting and manoeuvring during rapid movement due to their aerodynamic features, such as fur. Motivated by these observations, we proposed a bio-inspired tail mechanism that balances robots by exclusively utilising aerodynamically induced torques. To simulate this device, an inverted pendulum-based dynamic model is introduced, and the balancing process is governed by a PD controller. Comparative simulation studies examine the behaviours of a traditional reaction-wheel-based tail (RW tail) and the proposed aerodynamic drag-driven tail (AeroTail), discussing their respective advantages and limitations. The findings reveal that the AeroTail outperforms the RW tail in most metrics, achieving a remarkable 33.2% reduction in peak torque input and a 72.8% decrease in peak velocity requirement while not relying on extra mass to function.
Metadata
Item Type: | Proceedings Paper |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | This is an author produced version of a conference paper accepted for publication in Proceedings of the 28th International Conference on Automation and Computing (ICAC), made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
Keywords: | Performance evaluation, Energy consumption, Torque, Computational modeling, Biological system modeling, Wheels, Tail |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Engineering & Physical Sciences (Leeds) > School of Mechanical Engineering (Leeds) > Institute of Engineering Systems and Design (iESD) (Leeds) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Innovate UK fka Technology Strategy Board (TSB) TS/X016706/1 EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) EP/V026801/1 |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 10 Jul 2023 13:57 |
Last Modified: | 07 Nov 2023 16:49 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | IEEE |
Identification Number: | 10.1109/ICAC57885.2023.10275197 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:201270 |