Bioinspired Robot Sensing and Navigation

A special issue of Biomimetics (ISSN 2313-7673).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 290

Special Issue Editors

School of Computer and Control Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Interests: bionic navigation technology; inertial navigation systems; cooperative positioning; integrated navigation

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Guest Editor
School of Computer and Control Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Interests: underwater robot attitude control; multi sensor data fusion; optical sensing; fiber optic gyroscope system
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Guest Editor
School of Instrumentation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: quantum precision measurement and navigation; multi-source intelligent navigation

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Guest Editor
Department of Physics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
Interests: high-precision optical sensing and its applications in bionic tactile and biomedical fields

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Imitating the perceptual mechanisms found in nature represents a significant strategy for the development of advanced sensing technologies and navigation applications. Bio-inspired approaches such as polarization-based navigation and geomagnetic field-based navigation offer unique sources of inspiration and opportunities in this field. Sensing and navigation technologies serve as the fundamental foundation for enabling bio-inspired robots to perform their intended functions. The aim of this Special Issue is to gather contributions from research groups worldwide working on sensing and navigation technologies for bio-inspired robots. By encompassing a broad spectrum of topics—from sensor data acquisition and processing to practical applications in bio-inspired robotic systems—this Issue seeks to provide new perspectives and insights that advance the field of robotics. Through the open-access format, this collection of articles is expected to demonstrate the power of bio-inspired approaches in uncovering novel research directions and delivering innovative solutions for next-generation sensing and navigation technologies.

To further bridge fundamental research and real-world applications, this Special Issue is organized into two main parts:

(a) Sensing, covering topics such as skin-inspired flexible tactile sensors, insect-inspired vision systems, and bio-inspired auditory sensors;
(b) Navigation, including bionic polarization-based navigation, geomagnetic navigation, and other novel navigation methodologies for bio-inspired robots.

We believe that this initiative will help address a critical gap in the field of bio-inspired robotics and attract enthusiastic contributions from leading experts worldwide.

Dr. Shiwei Fan
Dr. Zicheng Wang
Dr. Ya Zhang
Dr. Zhuo Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bionic navigation
  • cooperative positioning
  • multi-source navigation
  • visual sensor
  • optical fiber sensor
  • information fusion
  • inertial navigation

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

21 pages, 3327 KB  
Article
Attention-Augmented LSTM Feed-Forward Compensation for Lever-Arm-Induced Velocity Errors in Transfer Alignment
by Shuang Pan, Guangyao Yan, Dongping Sun, Binghong Liang and Linping Feng
Biomimetics 2026, 11(1), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics11010032 - 3 Jan 2026
Viewed by 71
Abstract
In a mother–child underwater bio-inspired robotic system, the equivalent lever arm between the master and slave inertial navigation systems (INSs) varies with launcher attitude changes and structural flexure. This time-varying lever arm introduces hard-to-model systematic velocity errors that degrade the accuracy and filter [...] Read more.
In a mother–child underwater bio-inspired robotic system, the equivalent lever arm between the master and slave inertial navigation systems (INSs) varies with launcher attitude changes and structural flexure. This time-varying lever arm introduces hard-to-model systematic velocity errors that degrade the accuracy and filter convergence of velocity difference-based transfer alignment. Traditional rigid body compensation relies on precise, constant lever-arm parameters and fails when booms, launch tubes, or flexible manipulators undergo appreciable deformation or reconfiguration. To address this, we augment a “velocity–attitude joint matching and innovation-based adaptive Kalman filter (AKF)” framework with an attention-based Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) feed-forward module. Using only a short, real-time Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sequence from the slave INS, the module predicts and compensates the velocity bias induced by the lever arm. Numerical simulations of an underwater bio-inspired robot deployment scenario show that, under typical maneuvers (acceleration, turning, fin-flapping, and S-curve), the proposed method reduces the root-mean-square (RMS) misalignment angle error from about 14.5′ to 5.2′ and the RMS installation error angle from 8.8′ to 3.0′—average reductions of about 64% and 66%, respectively—substantially improving the robustness and practical applicability of transfer alignment under time-varying lever arms and flexible disturbances. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Robot Sensing and Navigation)
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