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Biomimetics
Special Issues
Bioinspired Robot Sensing and Navigation
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Bioinspired Robot Sensing and Navigation

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2026 | Viewed by 2075

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shiwei Fan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Computer and Control Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin, China
Interests: bionic navigation technology; inertial navigation systems; cooperative positioning; integrated navigation
Dr. Zicheng Wang

E-Mail Website
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
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Ya Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Instrumentation Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, China
Interests: quantum precision measurement and navigation; multi-source intelligent navigation
Dr. Zhuo Wang

E-Mail Website
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

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomimetics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 2407 KB  
Article
Temperature-Compensated Vector Bending Sensor with Double-Cladding Fiber Assisted Mach–Zehnder Interferometer
by Wenchao Li, Hongye Wang, Shuqin Wang, Xiangwei Hao, Yan Bai, Jian Xing and Xuelan He
Biomimetics 2026, 11(2), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics11020100 - 2 Feb 2026
Viewed by 403
Abstract
Vector bending sensing is an important research direction in the field of bionic robot design. A vector bending sensor with temperature compensation based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally investigated. The MZI is implemented using an off-axis splice between a single-mode [...] Read more.
Vector bending sensing is an important research direction in the field of bionic robot design. A vector bending sensor with temperature compensation based on Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI) is proposed and experimentally investigated. The MZI is implemented using an off-axis splice between a single-mode fiber (SMF) and a double-cladding fiber (DCF). The proposed sensor is analyzed comprehensively from the perspective of theoretical analysis and experimentally demonstrated. It reaches a high curvature sensitivity as high as −8.311 nm/m−1 and a compact size as small as 3 mm, while keeping the capability of direction sensing and temperature compensation. The proposed vector bending sensor has a good potential for accurate curvature measurement due to its high accuracy, multifunction, low cost and, compact size. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Robot Sensing and Navigation)
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19 pages, 1944 KB  
Article
Research on Adaptive Cooperative Positioning Algorithm for Underwater Robots Based on Dolphin Group Cooperative Mechanism
by Shiwei Fan, Jiachong Chang, Zicheng Wang, Mingfeng Ding, Hongchao Sun and Yubo Zhao
Biomimetics 2026, 11(1), 82; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics11010082 - 20 Jan 2026
Viewed by 588
Abstract
Inspired by the remarkable collaborative echolocation mechanisms of dolphin pods, the paper addresses the challenge of achieving high-precision cooperative positioning for clusters of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in complex marine environments. Cooperative positioning systems for UUVs typically rely on acoustic ranging information to [...] Read more.
Inspired by the remarkable collaborative echolocation mechanisms of dolphin pods, the paper addresses the challenge of achieving high-precision cooperative positioning for clusters of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) in complex marine environments. Cooperative positioning systems for UUVs typically rely on acoustic ranging information to correct positional errors. However, the propagation characteristics of underwater acoustic signals are susceptible to environmental disturbances, often resulting in non-Gaussian, heavy-tailed distributions of ranging noise. Additionally, the strong nonlinearity of the system and the limited observability of measurement information further constrain positioning accuracy. To tackle these issues, this paper innovatively proposes a Factor Graph-based Adaptive Cooperative Positioning Algorithm (FGAWSP) suitable for heavy-tailed noise environments. The method begins by constructing a factor graph model for UUV cooperative positioning to intuitively represent the probabilistic dependencies between system states and observed variables. Subsequently, a novel factor graph estimation mechanism integrating adaptive weights with the product algorithm is designed. By conducting online assessment of residual information, this mechanism dynamically adjusts the fusion weights of different measurements, thereby achieving robust handling of anomalous range values. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method reduces positioning errors by 22.31% compared to the traditional algorithm, validating the effectiveness of our approach. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Robot Sensing and Navigation)
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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 561
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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