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INTRODUCTION

This approach is characterized with a strong inclination for biological inspiration in which
examples in nature social insects in particular are used as a way of designing strategies for
controlling mobile robots. This approach has been successfully applied to the study of task,
namely, Ants algorithms used in computer networks for routing data between Routers.
This phenomenon found in ants to derive the necessary behaviors for accomplishing this task.
We study a species of ant known to possess this capability.
Bio-Computing is a way to understand how the relation of brain, body and environment
produce behavior, to clarify the essential problems posed, and to devise and test hypotheses
under realistic conditions social insects were capable of successfully navigating and acting in
the face of uncertain and unpredictable environments. It was reasoned that if a single robot
required complex systems and techniques in order to perform in a reliable manner, then
perhaps intelligent systems could be designed with many simpler robots using a minimalist
approach to sensing and actuation; where group behavior is an emergent property and control
is decentralized. Could system reliability be achieved by trading complexity for redundancy
coupled with randomness used to explore possible solution paths, which are often traits
found in social insect colonies? May be, biology can teach us a thing or two about
engineering swarms of simple interacting robots, and the theoretical foundations developed to
model and explain these behaviors found in insect colonies can be used to underpin a more
rigorous approach to collective robot design. Nature has already demonstrated the feasibility
of this approach by way of the social insects.

FIG 1.ROBOT INSPIRED FROM LIZARD

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1.1 BIO-INSPIRED ROBOTS

Bio-inspired robotic locomotion is a fairly new sub-category of bio-inspired design. It is
about learning concepts from nature and applying them to the design of real world engineered
systems. More specifically, this field is about making robots that are inspired by biological
systems. Bio mimicry and bio-inspired design are sometimes confused. Bio mimicry is
copying the nature while bio-inspired design is learning from nature and making a
mechanism that is simpler and more effective than the system observed in nature.
Biomimicry has led to the development of a different branch of robotics called soft robotics.
The biological systems have been optimized for specific tasks according to their habitat.
However, they are multi-functional and are not designed for only one specific functionality.
Bio-inspired robotics is about studying biological systems, and look for the mechanisms that
may solve a problem in the engineering field. The designer should then try to simplify and
enhance that mechanism for the specific task of interest. Bio-inspired roboticists are usually
interested in biosensors (e.g. eye), bio actuators (e.g. muscle), or biomaterials (e.g. spider
silk). Most of the robots have some type of locomotion system. Thus, in this article different
modes of animal locomotion and few examples of the corresponding bio-inspired robots are
introduced.
Numerous biological mechanisms exist for providing purchase: claws rely upon frictionbased mechanisms; gecko feet upon van der walls forces; and some insect feet upon fluidmediated adhesive force

FIG.1.1. DESIGNS OF BIO-INSPIRED ROBOTS

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1.2.ROBOTICS
Robotics is called the branch of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer
science that deals with the design, construction, operation, and application of robots, as well
as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.
These technologies deal with automated machines that can take the place of humans in
dangerous environments or manufacturing processes, or resemble humans in appearance,
behavior, and or cognition. Many of today's robots are inspired by nature contributing to the
field of bio-inspired robotics.
The concept of creating machines that can operate autonomously dates back to classical
times, but research into the functionality and potential uses of robots did not grow
substantially until the 20th century. Throughout history, it has been frequently assumed that
robots will one day be able to mimic human behavior and manage tasks in a human-like
fashion. Today, robotics is a rapidly growing field, as technological advances continue;
researching, designing, and building new robots serve various practical purposes,
whether domestically,commercially, or militarily. Many robots do jobs that are hazardous to
people such as defusing bombs, finding survivors in unstable ruins, and exploring mines and
shipwrecks.

FIG.1.2. ROBOTIC ARM

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2.BIO-ROBOTICS
Biorobotics is a term that loosely covers the fields of cybernetics, bionics and even genetic
engineering as a collective study.
Biorobotics is often used to refer to a real subfield of robotics: studying how to make robots
that emulate or simulate living biological organisms mechanically or even chemically. The
term is also used in a reverse definition: making biological organisms as manipulatable and
functional as robots, or making biological organisms as components of robots.
In the latter sense, biorobotics can be referred to as a theoretical discipline of comprehensive
genetic engineering in which organisms are created and designed by artificial means. The
creation of life from non-living matter for example, would be biorobotics. The field is in its
infancy and is sometimes known as synthetic biology or bionanotechnology.

Practical experimentation
Orel V.E. invented the device of mechanochemiemission microbiorobotics. The phenomenon
of mechanochemiemission is related to the processes interconversion of mechanical,
chemical, electromagnetic energy in the mitochondria. Microbiorobot may be used for
treatment of cancer patients.
A biological brain, grown from cultured neurons which were originally separated, has been
developed as the neurological entity subsequently embodied within a robot body byKevin
Warwick and his team at University of Reading. The brain receives input from sensors on the
robot body and the resultant output from the brain provides the robot's only motor signals.
The biological brain is the only brain of the robot.

FIG.2. LOBSTER ROBOT

2.1.BIOMIMETICS

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The most obvious aspect of Biorobotics is biomimetic or biomimicry.

Biomimicry is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to
emulate or take inspiration in order to design engineering systems or man-made devices.
Biomimetic or bio mimicry is the imitation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for
the purpose of solving complex human problems. The terms biomimetic and bio mimicry
derive from bios, life, and mimesis, imitation, from mimeisthai, to imitate, from mimos,
actor. A closely related field is bionics.

BACKGROUND
One of the early examples of biomimicry was the study of birds to enable human flight.
Although never successful in creating a flying machine, Leonardo da Vinci was a keen
observer of the anatomy and flight of birds, and made numerous notes and sketches on his
observations as well as sketches of "flying machines". The Wright Brothers, who succeeded
in flying the first heavier-than-air aircraft in 1903, derived inspiration from observations of
pigeons in flight.
Biomimetics was coined by the American biophysicist and polymath Otto Schmitt during the
1950s. It was during his doctoral research that he developed the Schmitt trigger by studying
the nerves in squid, attempting to engineer a device that replicated the biological system
of nerve propagation. He continued to focus on devices that mimic natural systems and by
1957 he had perceived a converse to the standard view of biophysics at that time, a view he
would come to call biomimetic.
Biophysics is not so much a subject matter as it is a point of view. It is an approach to
problems of biological science utilizing the theory and technology of the physical sciences.
Conversely, biophysics is also a biologist's approach to problems of physical science and
engineering, although this aspect has largely been neglected.

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A similar term, Bionics was coined by Jack E. Steele in 1960 at Wright-Patterson Air Force
Base in Dayton, Ohio where Otto Schmitt also worked. Steele defined bionics as "the science
of systems which have some function copied from nature, or which represent characteristics
of natural systems or their analogues". During a later meeting in 1963 Schmitt stated,
Let us consider what bionics has come to mean operationally and what it or some word like it
ought to mean in order to make good use of the technical skills of scientists specializing, or
rather, I should say, DE specializing into this area of research
In 1969 the term biomimetic was used by Schmitt to title one of his papers, and by 1974 it
had found its way into Webster's Dictionary, bionics entered the same dictionary earlier in
1960 as a science concerned with the application of data about the functioning of biological
systems to the solution of engineering problems. Bionic took on a different connotation
when Martin Caidin referenced Jack Steele and his work in the novel Cyborg which later
resulted in the 1974television series The Six Million Dollar Man and its spin-offs. The term
bionic then became associated with "the use of electronically operated artificial body parts"
and having ordinary human powers increased by or as if by the aid of such devices. Because
the term bionic took on the implication of supernatural strength, the scientific community
in English speaking countries largely abandoned it.
The term biomimicry appeared as early as 1982. Biomimicry was popularized by scientist
and author Janine Benyus in her 1997 book Biomimicry Innovation Inspired by Nature.
Biomimicry is defined in the book as a new science that studies nature's models and then
imitates or takes inspiration from these designs and processes to solve human problems.
Benyus suggests looking to Nature as a Model, Measure, and Mentor and emphasizes
sustainability as an objective of biomimicry.

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2.2 EXAMPLES
1

The first design for an Airplane was designed by observing the direction in which
pigeons point their wings

2
3

Hypodermic needles were inspired by observing how snakes deliver poison through their
fangs

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5

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6

Belt movement of military tank was inspired by observing the way a caterpillars moves.

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7

Gas bombs of WWI were inspired by observing the poisonous spray released by the
beetle

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9

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10 Japanese bullet train was inspired by observing the swooping movements of the
kingfisher

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11

12 Surgical instrument-many are designed from the beaks of birds which have a very precise

grip i.e. strong enough to crack a nut but gentle enough to pick up small grains

13

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14 Submarines design was improved by observing the ability of deep sea creatures to
withstand high pressure

15 Infer metric modular display were designed by mimicking the way light reflects from the
scales on a butterfly's wing

16
17 Sports wear, ships and submarines designs reduce drag and friction by observing the
shape and texture of the shark skin.

Recently robots have been built using biomimicy, these are called Biomimetic Robots.
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Biomimetic robots borrow their structure and senses from animals, such as birds or insects.

Their abilities are copied from living organisms

As a result they tend to function better in the unpredictable real world than the controlled
environment of a laboratory

However, those robots do not completely copy from animals, we usually extract only their
most useful abilities

With the rapid development of biology and computer technology, it is possible for us to
clearly understand and imitate the behaviours of many animals.

Such as Birds, snakes, insects, amphibians etc.

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TABLE 2.2 SOME OF THE CRITERIONS

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Examples:
A well-known early biomimetic robots were a lobster.
This model is established in the 1970s by Joseph Ayers, a biology professor
The actions of real lobsters have been reverse-engineered and programmed into a library
of actions which give the robotic lobster a similar behavior as the real ones.
They not only resemble its physical shape and movements but the way its artificial
nervous system responds to variable conditions in its environment- such as temperature
and heat.

FIG 2.2.1 LOBSTER ROBOT

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Replicating the functions of small insects like mosquito or bee to fit into small spaces
where humans cannot go.

FIG 2.2.2 INSECT ROBOTS

Realistic-looking biomimetic fish are used to observe ocean life without alarming marine
life
They perform activities such as checking pollution levels, hazardous leaks from vessels
and underwater pipelines with the help of a built-in chemical sensor

FIG 2.2.3 BIOMIMETIC FISH

3. RECENT ADVANCES IN BIOROBOTICS

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3.1. Robot with a biological brain
The brain consists of a collection of neurons cultured on a Multi Electrode Array (MEA).

The MEA is a dish with approximately 60 electrodes which pick up the electrical signals
generated by the cells. This is then used to drive the movement of the robot

The robot has no additional control from a human or a computer, its sole means of control is
from its own brain

This robot is used to examine how memories manifest themselves in the brain, and how a
brain stores specific pieces of data.

It is also being used to study disorders of the brain such as Alzheimer's disease and
Parkinson's disease

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3.2. Cockroach turned into fuel cell

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A cockroaches own body chemistry is used to produce electricity which can power up tiny
devices

When a cockroach eats it produces a sugar called trehalose, which is broken down by
enzymes in the cockroaches blood called haemolymph.

FIG 3.2.1 COCKROACH TURNED INTO FUEL CELL

It takes several steps for different enzymes to finish breaking down and converting sugar for
food, but in the last step, electrons are released.

By tapping into the electrons through wires inserted into its bodyand harnessing electricity
researchers were able to generate about 60 microamperes of energy

FIG 3.2.2 FUEL CELL

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3.3.Computer built from leech neurons

The leechulator built from leech neurons can perform simple addition and and subtraction

It is able to come up with its own answer even when presented with partial information due to
the ability of the neurons to make their own connections.

The neurons are harnessed in a petri dish by inserting micro-electrodes into them. Each
neuron has its own electrical activity and responds in its own way to an electrical stimulus.

These features can be used to make each neuron represent a number. Calculations are then
performed by linking up the individual neurons.

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4. Biorobotics in medicine
4.1. Bionic arm controlled by thought

First, the motor cortex in the brain (area that controls voluntary muscle
movements) is still sending out control signals even if the arm muscles are no
longer available for control.
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FIG 4.1.1 HUMAN BRAIN

second, when the arm is amputated , all of the nerves that once carried signals to that limb are
not removed. So if a person's arm is gone, there are working nerve stubs that end in the
shoulder and simply have nowhere to send their information

FIG 4.1.2 HUMAN ARM

These nerves can be redirected to a working muscle group,so when the brain sends out nerves
that should communicate with the hand,the signals end up in a working muscle group instead
of the no longer existing limb. This is called "targeted muscle reinnervation technology."

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FIG 4.1.3 ROBOTIC ARM FIXED TO THE SHOULDER

shoulder is dissected to access the nerve endings that control the movements of arm joints
like the elbow, wrist and hand.

Then, without damaging the nerves, they redirect the endings to a working muscle group such
as the chest.

It takes several months for the nerves to grow into those muscles and become fully integrated.

FIG 4.1.4 ROBOTIC ARM FIXED TO CHEST

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The end result is a redirection of control signals: The motor cortex sends out signals for the
arm and hand through nerve passage ways as it always did; but instead of those signals
ending up at the shoulder, they end up at the chest.

To use those signals to control the bionic arm,

the setup places electrodes on the surface of the chest muscles. Each electrode controls one of
the six motors that move the bionic arm's joints. When a person thinks "open hand," the brain
sends the "open hand" signal to the appropriate nerve, now newly located in the chest.

When the nerve ending receives the signal, the chest muscle it's connected to contracts. When
the "open hand" chest muscle contracts, the electrode on that muscle detects the activation
and tells the motor controlling the bionic hand to open. And since each nerve ending is
integrated into a different piece of chest muscle, a person wearing the bionic arm can move
all six motors simultaneously.
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4.1. Bionic eye (artificial silicone retina)

Normal vision begins when light enters and moves through the eye to strike specialized
photoreceptor (light-receiving) cells in the retina called rods and cones. These cells
convert light signals to electric impulses that are sent to the optic nerve and the brain

FIG 4.2.1. HUMAN EYE

Retinal diseases like age-related macular degeneration and retinitis pigmentosa destroy
vision by annihilating these cells. With the artificial retina device, a miniature camera
mounted in eyeglasses captures images and wirelessly sends the information to a
microprocessor (worn on a belt) that converts the data to an electronic signal and
transmits it to a receiver on the eye.
The receiver sends the signals through a tiny, thin cable to the microelectrode array,
stimulating it to emit pulses. The artificial retina device thus bypasses defunct
photoreceptor cells and transmits electrical signals directly to the retinas remaining
viable cells.

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The pulses travel to the optic nerve and, ultimately, to the brain, which perceives patterns
of light and dark spots corresponding to the electrodes stimulated. Patients learn to
interpret these visual patterns.

4.3. Bionic ear

A cochlear implant works by using special electronic technologies to take the place of nonworking parts in the inner ear. It's designed to mimic natural hearing.

1. Sound processor:
Sound is picked up by a tiny microphone sensitive to the direction from which sounds come.
This lets it pick up more sounds from in front of the user and fewer from behind them.
External sound processor captures sound and converts it into digital signals.

2. Digital signals:
The signals are sent across the skin to the internal implant. This is done with
technology similar to the way a radio station broadcasts its signal, but on a
much smaller scale.

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3. Electrode array:
Internal implant converts signals into electrical energy, sending it to an
electrode array inside the cochlea.

4. Hearing nerve:
Electrodes stimulate the hearing nerve, bypassing damaged hair cells, and the
brain perceives signals as sound

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5. ADVANTAGES
As pointed out by Saga & Nakamura, snake-like or worm-like locomotion generally requires
less space than does locomotion with legs because the body is elongated and does not have
any projections. Hence, robots built to emulate snakes or worms have an inherent advantage
over robots with legs when they must operate in close quarters. This advantage, however, is
offset by rather slow forward progression. Multilink snake-like robots, for example, can
travel at less than 20 cm/sec .Given their size, this translates into less than 0.01 body
lengths/sec. Some snakes, like some other animals, are amphibious. Certainly an amphibious
robot can be designed with legs or without, but an advantage of an amphibious snake-like
robot is that a similar control system can be used to regulate motion in water and on land.
Legged animals generally use their legs differently on land than in the water, hence adding an
extra layer of complexity to any legged amphibious robot .By using a snake model, Crespi
and colleagues are able to use a single control mechanism, since the locomotion they are
emulating is essentially the same on land as it is in the water. Robots designed to emulate the
peristaltic locomotion of worms can move forward using even less space than snake-like
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robots require because there is no side-to-side motion of the body at all. The challenge for
robots modelled after worms is finding an appropriate type of actuator that will impart the
necessary motion to the body. Saga & Nakamura have implemented a novel approach, using
a magnetic fluid whose viscosity changes with a fluctuating magnetic field inside a microrobot. Hence, the robot can be controlled in a restricted environment from outside the robot
itself. Furthermore, even though the robot requires no wires or external connection, its
movements can nevertheless be precisely controlled by application of an external magnet that
supplies the necessary magnetic field. An important advantage of biomimetically designed
worm-like crawling robots is their potential use in medicine. In addition to their modular
nature, a feature that simplifies construction and control, the main advantage of such robots is
the possibility of their use inside the human intestine or in blood vessels. For example,
Menciassi and collaborators have developed a robot that could in principle be used in
microendoscopy, a procedure for examining for abnormalities the human intestinal tract or
small tubes or ducts.

The main feature of the robot is a system of microhooks on its surface, enabling it to gain
traction against the smooth inner surface of any biological tube or duct. Progression is
achieved through control of shape memory alloy in the robot that is deformed and then
regains its original form, moving the robot forward. An advantage of robots based on
peristaltic locomotion is that they can press against the walls of the tube within which they
are moving. If the robot is to be used on the exterior surface of an object, this obviously
cannot be done. In these circumstances, an inchworm like robot may be a better choice and
such robots have been designed for these circumstances. For example, Rincon & Castro
discuss their inchworm-like robot and its structural advantages . Riviere and colleagues have
used the inchworm model for their small robot that can work on the epicardium of a beating
heart. The robot adheres by suction and navigates by crawling like an inchworm under
control or an operating surgeon.

6. APPLICATION
1

Many of the applications suggested for crawling robots, such as surveillance, search and
rescue, and off-world exploration, have been suggested for walking robots as well. Even
endoscopic surgery, to which crawling robots might seem better suited, has been

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proposed as an application for a robot with legs . Underwater walking applications have
2

been implemented successfully as well.

Although certainly some robots are designed and built with the prime objective being
research on the physical features of the robot or on the mechanisms that control it, most
are conceived and built with one or more specific applications in mind. This seems to be
particularly true for crawling robots. Furthermore, the great diversity of applications for
which such robots are built is reflected in the great diversity of their physical structure.
This structure ranges from legged robots that drag their bodies along the substrate worm-

or snake-like robots
Biomedicine-mimicking the diving behavior of animals, researchers have recently
discovered that humans have a similar capacity to lower brain temperature and suppress
metabolism for neuroprotection. this has now opened a real possibility of devising means
for humans to sustain this state, not unlike the elusive and enigmatic feat of animal
hibernation, e.g., lemurs (primates) and bears. this would have profound biomedical
implications for healthcare and for treating an unmatched range and diversity of serious
life-threatening clinical conditions, and in a fully personalized way, things like stroke,
blood-loss, burns, cancer, chronic obesity, epileptic seizures, etc. an experimental trial,
recently conducted in sweden seemingly resulted in a sustainable variant of this state in a
human breath-hold diver.

7. CONCLUSION
It should be apparent from this review of biologically inspired robotics, as incomplete as
it is, that the field is active, vibrant, and growing. Even robotics research on problems
such as path finding and navigation in an open environment, which have usually seen a
traditional engineering approach, have in recent years begun to incorporate biomimetic
approaches and concepts into the field. There is also no question that engineers wishing
to improve speed or agility of their walking robots now make at least some effort to
incorporate biological concepts into their designs, as detailed in previous sections. It is
only to be expected that future developments will incorporate even more biological
principles and that future walking robots will begin to resemble their animal models
more and more closely in their levels of performance. The purported advantages of
building mimics of biological systems in hardware and software have been articulated by
several researchers in recent years, especially by members of the groups represented by
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Dean et al. and Quinn et al.. It is no accident that these proponents of the approach are
those who have most thoroughly integrated biologists and engineers into a viable
working group. Although proof of the value of the biomimetic approach is in the
successful design of walking robots with superior performance, it is worthwhile to
summarize here the general areas of the robotics of walking robots to which biological
principles have made the greatest contribution ,actuators, dynamics, sensory feedback,
and loco motor control.

9.BIBLOGRAPHY
1. Altendorfer, R. Moore, N.; Komsuolu, H.; Buehler, M.; Brown, H. B.; Mcmordie, D.;
Saranli, U Full, R. & Koditschek, D. E. (2001). RHex a biologically inspired hexapod
runner. Autonomous Robots 11, 207-213.
2. Bailey, S. A.; Cham, J. G.; Cutkosky, M. R. & Full, R. J. (2001). Comparing the
locomotion dynamics of the cockroach and a shape deposition manufactured
biomimetic hexapod.
Lecture Notes in Control and Information Sciences:
Experimental Robotics VII 271, 239-248.
3. Beer, R. D.; Chiel, H. J.; Quinn, R. D.; Espenschied, K. S. & Larsson, P. (1992). A
distributed neural network architecture for hexapod robot locomotion. Neural
Computation 4, 356-365.
4. Cham, J. G.; Bailey, S. A.; Clark, J. E.; Full, R. J. & Cutkosky, M. R. (2002). Fast
and robust: hexapedal robots via shape deposition manufacturing. International
Journal of Robotics Research 21, 869-882.
5. Crespi, A.; Badertscher, A.; Guignard, A. & Ijspeert, A. J. (2005). Amphibot I. An
amphibious snake-like robot. Robotics and Autonomous Systems 50, 163-175.
6. Dean, J.; Kindermann, T.; Schmitz, J.; Schumm, M. & Cruse, H. (1999). Control of
walking in the stick insect: from behavior and physiology to modeling. Autonomous
Robots 7, 271-288.
7. Ferrell, C. (1995). A comparison of three insect-inspired locomotion controllers.
Robotics and Autonomous Systems 16, 135-159.

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