

In order to solve practical issues of mechanical technology, or to develop new machines and technologies, human beings begin to gain experience through observation of nature and create a new discipline–bionics ( Tavsan and Sonmez, 2015). Many future applications of robotics seem obvious, although they far exceed the capabilities of existing robots as predicted ( Dahiya and Valle, 2013). At present, various technologies have emerged to develop robotics and robot science ( Alimisis, 2013). Except for this, robots can be subdivided according to the specificity of their purpose.

At present, there are two main types of robots, based on their use: general-purpose autonomous robots and dedicated robots. Other application areas include injection molding industry, construction industry, oil drilling, ore mining, space exploration, underwater exploration, toxic material cleaning, search and rescue, medicine, military and other fields. Many task-performing robots are used in the production lines of factories engaged in manufacturing industry ( Kumar, 2013).

Beyond all doubt, robots have replaced humans in performing repetitive and dangerous tasks which humans prefer not to do, or are unable to do because of size limitations, or which take place in extreme environments ( Akins, 2013). Most robots today are machines that are used to perform tasks, designed with an emphasis on practicality and functionality. In general, robots can be controlled and guided by external or built-in control devices.
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Finally, motion performances of the robots are compared by two normalized metrics-speed compared by body length and speed compared by body diameter, and future developments in this research direction are presented.Ī robot is a machine, especially one that can be programmed to automatically perform a complex series of actions ( Latombe, 2012). Moreover, various promising application instances of the different actuation methods are detailed along with their main features. Herein, earthworm-inspired soft robots are classified into single- and multi-segment types, and the characteristics of various actuation methods are introduced and compared according to the number of matching segments. This review article aims to act as a reference guide for researchers interested in the field of earthworm-inspired soft robot, and to present the current state of research, summarize current design innovations, compare the advantages and disadvantages of different actuation methods with the purpose of inspiring future innovative orientations for researchers. Consequently, various actuation methods have been proposed to conduct the expansion and contraction of the robot’s segments for locomotion simulation. The major studies on earthworm-inspired soft robots focuses on the deformation of the earthworm body segment. In recent years, earthworm-inspired soft robot has garnered increasing attention as a major branch of bionic robots.
