Projet MiMiC-ANT - Étude de la locomotion lors du transport de charges chez la fourmi : application à la robotique hexapode

• Serres Julien
• Fourcassié Vincent
• Brodoline Ilya
• Moretto Pierre
• Viollet Stéphane

• Biomimetism
• Bionics
• Actuator
• Force sensing
• Biomimicry
• Pattern of locomotion

The aim of the interdisciplinary MiMiC-ANT 2020-2021 project was to understand locomotion pattern adjustments in ants in order to develop innovative strategies for modulating the locomotion patterns of hexapod robots capable of transporting loads, evolving on irregular terrain, and also to provide hexapod robots with more intelligent legs (i.e., endowed with proprioception). Two teams attached to the CNRS INSIS participated in the MiMiC-ANT project: a team from Toulouse CRCA UMR5169-CAB, in charge of understanding the organisation of the locomotion pattern of the ant in a weighted situation during load transport, and a team from Marseille ISM UMR7287-BIOROB, in charge of mimicking the locomotion pattern of ants in a weighted situation on board a hexapod robot, which would make the robot potentially "more reactive" on rough or sloping ground. This requires, first of all, designing new legs for hexapod robots that are more responsive to the terrain through proprioception of forces at the joints, a more energy-efficient actuation structure, and finally, fully 3D printable solutions to facilitate robot reparability.