4
Biologically Inspired Robotics
FIGURE 1.3
Seal-mimetic robot PARO developed by Shibata (2004) at AIST, Japan.
BHR-2 (Huang et al. 2005), have been developed in Japan, Europe, and
China. The early biomimetic robots for entertainment include the robotic
dog AIBO developed by Sony and the seal-mimetic robot PARO by Shibata
(2004; Figure  1.3). With the advancement of sensing, actuation, and information technology, biologically inspired robotics is advancing rapidly with
extensive study by robotics researchers and increasing investment from
industries and governments worldwide. Different robots or robotic systems
inspired by animals, insects, and fish have been developed. Figure 1.4 shows
a robotic fish developed by Hu at the University of Essex (J. Liu, Dukes, and
Hu 2005). Biomimetics has become one of the fastest growing topics in robotics in recent years.
FIGURE 1.4
Robotic fish developed by J. Liu et al. (2005) at the University of Essex.