Advances of bionic robot researches on earthworm peristaltic mechanism

摘要

Pertaining to the physical structure of earthworms,the peristaltic mechanism of moving forward and backward from rhythmically telescopic movement of body segments is analyzed in detail.Accordingly,the locomotion principle of earthworm-like robots is proposed.Afterwards,the domestic and foreign research advances of earthworm-like robots for medical treatment,micro-pipeline inspection,curved hole machining and special-purpose operation are speculated.Moreover,the weaknesses of size miniaturization,driving mode perfection,machining and inspection high-efficiency,wireless communications,operational intelligence are pinpointed.To resolve the abovementioned weaknesses,the future trends of earthworm-like robots are analyzed.