Biomimetic Underwater Robot Program, Northeastern University
The Biomimetic Underwater Robot Program is part of the Marine Science Center of Northeastern University, which specializes in biomimetic robots and is being sponsored by DARPA and ONR. This group focuses its research mainly on autonomous underwater robots and biomimetic neurotechnology in order to create and develop their underwater robots.
Their research on biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicles is separated into two classes. The first of which is 8-legged, ambulatory, lobster-like vehicle robots complete with sensors. This robot is designed to perform autonomous remote sensing operations in rivers or coastal zone ocean bottoms with robust adaptations to irregular bottom-form, topography, current, and surge.
Another robot is a lamprey-like vehicle. This undulatory system is designed for remote sensing operations in water columns with depth/altitude control and high maneuverability. Both of these robots are based on the same biomimetic control, actuator, and sensor architecture that showcase highly modularized components at a minimal cost.
Aside from the Lamprey and Lobster vehicle robots, the lab has also developed a colony of robotic bees – the RoboBees. These robots were developed in collaboration with Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biological Inspired Engineering, and CentEye.
The lab has also been in collaboration with various other universities, namely the University of California, the University of Alabama and Newcastle University, in order to construct Cyberplasm. Before they can construct this, however, they need to work together in order to apply the principles of synthetic biology to the integration of hybrid microbots.
Cyberplasm is a micro-scale robot integrating microelectronics with cells, in which cells and actuator genes have been inserted and expressed. This can be done through the combination of cellular device integration, advance microelectronics, and biomimicry.
This research is intended to harness the power of synthetic biology at a cellular level by integrating specific parts into bacteria, yeast, and other mammalian cells. Eventually, once this is successful, researchers hope that it can power fuel cells that drive their robots.
The lab has also released several literatures pertaining to their research, such as the Biomechanisms of Swimming and Flying and Neurotechnology for Biomimetic Robots.
