3. Biorobotics usually refers to the study of:
•Making robots that emulate and stimulate
living biological organisms mechanically or even
chemically
•Application of biological ideas to address
technological problems
•Application of robotics to solve problems
regarding biology and medicine
4. The most obvious aspect of Biorobotics
is biomimetics 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.
5. Examples:
•The first design for an Airplane was
designed by observing the direction in
which pigeons point their wings
7. Passive cooling in sky scrapers was inspired
by observing how termite mounds are always
kept around 90 degrees by opening and
closing vent like structures at the bottom and
top or the mounds
8. Belt movement of military tank was inspired
by observing the way a caterpillars moves.
9. Velcro fastening system were invented by
observing the latching nature of the burrs
from the thistle plant
10. Hydrophobic coatings and paints were
inspired by observing the superhydrophobic
nature of lotus leaves due to the microscopic
tips present on the surface of the leaves
11. Gas bombs of WWI were inspired by observing
the poisonous spray released by the beetle
12. Japanese bullet train was inspired by
observing the swooping movements of the
kingfisher
13. Sports wear, ships and submarines designs
reduce drag and friction by observing the
shape and texture of the shark skin.
14. 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
15. Submarines design was improved by
observing the ability of deep sea creatures
to withstand high pressure
16. Inferometric modular display were designed by
mimicking the way light reflects from the
scales on a butterfly's wing
17. Recently robots have been built using
biomimicy, these are called Biomimetic
Robots.
Biomimetic robots borrow their structure and
senses from animals, such as birds or insects.
Their abilities are copied from living
organisms
18. 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
19. With the rapid development of biology and
computer technology, it is possible for us
to clearly understand and imitate the
behaviors of many animals.
Such as Birds, snakes, insects, amphibians
etc
20. A well-known early
biomimetic robots were a
lobster.
This model is established
in the 1970s by Joseph
Ayers, a biology professor
Examples:
21. 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.
22. Replicating the functions of small insects like
mosquito or bee to fit into small spaces where
humans cannot go.
23. 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
24. •Snakes are one of the most successful creature
in the earth when it comes to competition for
survival.
•Have a unique body structure which is lean and
lanky, soft and flexible
25. Mechanism of movement
•Have the most unique manner of movement
even without limbs they can move on the
ground, swim in water or climb onto trees.
26. •We can take advantage of such characteristics
and design snakelike robots which can handle lots
of special tasks.
28. 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
29. 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
30. Cockroach turned into fuel cell
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.
31. 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
32. 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.
33. 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.
35. 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.
36. 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
37. 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."
38. 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.
39. 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.
40. 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.
41. 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.
42. 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
Bionic eye (artificial silicone retina)
43. 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.
44. 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
retina’s remaining viable cells.
45. 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
46. A cochlear implant works by
using special electronic
technologies to take the place of
non-working parts in the inner
ear. It's designed to mimic
natural hearing.
Bionic ear
47. 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.
48. 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.
49. 3. Electrode array:
Internal implant converts signals into
electrical energy, sending it to an
electrode array inside the cochlea.
50. 4. Hearing nerve:
Electrodes stimulate the hearing nerve,
bypassing damaged hair cells, and the brain
perceives signals as sound