Le robot fourmi AntBot. Conception et réalisation d’un robot bio-inspiré

• Viollet Stéphane
• Dupeyroux Julien
• Serres Julien

• Navigation
• Vision
• Insect
• Ant
• Robotics
• Bioinspiration

As a technical process, “bio-inspired robotics” aims to create an artifact from functions identified in living organisms. Researchers at the Marseille Institute of Motion Sciences are trying to reproduce two main ones: navigation without GPS (Global Positioning System) and location in space. The “biorobotic” approach is based on the observation that nature has already solved a robotic problem: the Cataglyphis desert ant is one of the solutions. This ant is indeed able to locate itself in relation to its nest (starting point), to explore its environment in a random way and to return in a straight line to the nest. In the framework of the "AntBot" project, we are developing a path integrator allowing a robot to return to its starting point without GPS —a celestial compass allowing it to measure its course in relation to the polarized light of the sky. While this robot is inspired by the Cataglyphis ant for vision and navigation strategy, Antbot does not faithfully reproduce its biological structures. The hexapod robot is much larger than an ant and does not have a compound eye. Confronted with a natural environment, this robot not only allows us to strengthen our understanding of the biological functions of Cataglyphis, but also to design new bio-inspired technologies.