Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 25-9 - 3

guesteditorial
Paolo Arena, DIEEI-University of Catania, Italy
Luca Patanè, Department of Engineering-University of Messina, Italy
Biomimetic Architectures: Sensing and Control
B
iomimetics relies on the research and development
of new theories and related methodologies based on
a solid biological, nature-inspired background, focused
to improve existing technologies. This Special Issue of
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine concentrates on examples
of bio-inspired solutions and the related mechanisms
and principles to model parts of, or the whole, sensing-perception-action
loop, spanning from the vegetable to the animal
kingdom. These realms contain extremely efficient examples
in this sense, yet details in charge of this efficiency are largely
unknown. To build efficient bio-inspired artefacts as a whole,
bio-inspired robots are the main center of interest; however,
bio-robot design and realization involve a large number of different
disciplines which play relevant roles within the selected
papers in this Special Issue. In particular, five papers have been
accepted for publication, reflecting several aspects of the fields
mentioned above by covering different areas of bio-inspired
sensing, modeling and control. Some of the contributions focus
more on the sensing aspects whereas others on modeling
and control. The variety of selected papers reflects the efforts
made by all authors to focus either on methodological aspects
or technical issues. Some contributions are in the form of surveys
and reflect the authors' experience in the respective fields.
The paper by Meder et al. presents and reviews the
interesting principle of the triboelectric effect to convert mechanical
energy into electricity. This phenomenon is present
in plant leaves and opens new and potentially revolutionary
means to harvest energy from living beings, joining the new
trends for energy recovery towards the next generation of renewable
energy systems. The authors describe in detail how
to measure triboelectric charges in the tissue of living plants,
the particularities of measuring such signals in the organisms,
and the key aspects involved in the energy harvesting
process.
The paper from Hunke et al. considers weakly electric fish,
which can estimate object size and position via their sensory
apparatus, through the generation of a three-dimensional
dipole-like electric field for object localization and communication.
The authors present a model of this effect and
simulate the corresponding sensor for object size and position
estimation.
The manuscript from Arena et al. investigates the insect
brain as a model for reproducing several interesting behaviors
of primary importance in the next generation of autonomous
bio-inspired robots. The review considers, in particular, mushroom
bodies as relevant centers where complex learning
processes, linked to the insect body, take place. The instruments
and measurement methods typically involved in data
acquisition in these tiny brains are reviewed, together with
some neuromorphic architectures where the described neural
model can be implemented. Moreover, two main applications
are briefly presented as interesting cases of study. These involve
a low- and a high-level sensory-motor loop: estimation
of the ground reaction force in a quadruped robot and sequence
learning applied to navigation in a roving platform.
The paper from Li et al. presents the technical roadmap of
bio-inspired locomotion control in bio-robots, considering the
gecko case. After the discussion of the gecko motion behavior
and the measurement system involved, the motion coordination
strategy for controlling the animal's legs is analyzed.
Last, but not least, in the manuscript from Brodoline et al.,
the ant is considered as the main actor, showing remarkable
performance in outdoor locomotion and navigation tasks. Two
test benches are presented to investigate leg movement: one
used to characterize that of an ant and the other that of a robotic
leg. By comparing this multiscale data, the significance
and relevance of these measurements are processed to evaluate
the robot performance. This analysis will push toward the
design of bio-inspired machines that can more efficiently interact
with uneven terrains which are difficult for other robots to
traverse. This also creates a virtual loop for biologists to have a
better understanding of insect behavior.
We would like to express our warmest thanks to the Editor
in Chief Prof. Bruno Andò for inviting us to provide editorial
work for such a Special Issue. Special thanks go to all the
authors who actively and professionally contributed to the
quality of the magazine, and also to the reviewers for their
time spent which for sure contributed to improve the paper
contents and overall presentation. We would also like to thank
Kristy Virostek for her precious support in handling the editorial
process and maintaining the timeline for publishing the
Special Issue.
December 2022
IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine
3
Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 25-9

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