Overview and development directions of bionic robot research

Bionic robots integrate life science, mechanical engineering, intelligent control and other multidisciplinary theories, and have important application value in military and civilian scenarios such as agricultural and forestry operations, post-disaster search and rescue, deep-sea exploration, and national defense counter-terrorism. This article divides the development of bionic robots into four stages: primitive exploration, macro-imitation and sports bionics, partial integration of electromechanical systems and biological performance, and integrated research and development for life systems, and sorts out the technical characteristics and representative prototypes of each stage. According to the operating environment, bionic robots are divided into ground, underwater, and aerial categories. The technical characteristics and application scenarios of typical prototypes, including bipedal, multi-legged, limbless, fish-like, and bird-like robots, are analyzed. The study points out that at present, bionic robots still face real bottlenecks such as insufficient analysis of biological movement mechanism, high cost of mass production of new flexible materials, low energy conversion efficiency and limited endurance, and weak environmental perception and autonomous control ability. On this basis, future research should further explore the intrinsic mechanisms of living organisms, promote the integrated design of structure, materials, actuation, and control, improve the environmental adaptability and intelligence of robots, and advance the practical application and industrialization of bionic robots.