For the interest of interest, he "gets deeper and deeper"

Text ｜ "China Science News" reporter Zhao Guangli

Some people say that the fastest way to destroy a person is to do it as a career.

In this regard, Wu Zhengxing, a researcher at the Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as automation institutes), did not agree.

When I was still studying more than ten years ago, I thought of the bionic, Wu Zhengxing's head was "interesting", "knowledge" and "innovation".

Today, when he and the team personally put the bionic machine dolphins, bionic tuna, bionic batti, etc., after he put it into the lake and the sea, his feelings were much enriched.

Taking the bionic machine fish as a career, Wu Zhengxing not only did not lose interest, but also "deeper and deeper."

So far, dozens of SCI journal papers he published and participated in and published, more than 30 invention patents, and 10 funds or talent projects that have been authorized by the authorized international and domestic invention are inseparable from the keyword "underwater bionic intelligent robot" Essence

This year, he won the first "May 4th Medal of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" with the long -term outstanding underwater bionic robot system research and development.

Wu Zhengxing interviewee confession

The more you know the more you are

Luban was scratched by the sawtooth grass, which inspired the saw; the bat was located in ultrasound, and scientists invented the radar accordingly ... When he was a teenager, Wu Zhengxing was particularly interested in these stories.

Nature is a treasure house! So from time to time, he would pay attention to the natural everything around him, wondering if he would be inspired to invent some new things.

Interests are interesting. Before studying, Wu Zhengxing never thought that he would engage in scientific research related to bionic -related.

When Wu Zhengxing first arrived in the institution of automation, the direction of the research group was robot control.

Researcher Tan Min gave him half a year and asked him to "choose the scientific research direction according to his hobbies".

At that time, he felt that the bionic machine fish was "very fun", and using various knowledge to make a bunch of unremarkable mechanical parts swimming in the water like a fish, it was amazing.

It didn't take long for Wu Zhengxing to determine his research direction -underwater bionic intelligent robot.

With the help of the teachers of the research team, Wu Zhengxing checked the literature and found information, and had more understanding of the mobility of fish.

In consulting materials, he saw that North American dog fish could launch an attack like a shot arrow when predating, and the visual impact was amazing.

As a result, the bionic machine that imitates the high -mobility of dog fish has become the first machine fish on Wu Zhengxing's scientific research.

With the deepening of the research, the more knowledge about Wu Zhengxing's contact, the more he felt that the fish was amazing.

"I can't help but want to bite these functions in my heart, which prompts me to continue digging into the depths and make me more obsessed with this field."

The bionic objects selected by Wu Zhengxing's team have their own characteristics.

Dolphin, sharks and tuna are used to use the BCF mode (body/tail fin mode) when swimming, which can swim at high speed and efficiency.

But dolphins are not the same as sharks and tuna. It has more obvious flexible fluctuations in the swimming body, and its maneuverability is particularly strong. It can easily make jumping water and swing.

The bat -manta uses the MPF mode (the middle fin/to the fins of the fins). It uses the wide pectoral fin on both sides to promote the body, and it is better stable.

The research teams use them as bionic objects, giving different characteristics and advantages to underwater bionic robots.

"Our team uses spotted dolphins as a high -speed bionic machine dolphin developed by bionic objects, which realizes the continuous jumping movement of dolphins. It has very good high -speed and high -mobility capabilities; The swimming distance exceeds 3 times the body length, showing a very good high -speed performance; and the bionic machine manta -manta -manta manta -based manta manta, the vertical roll in the vertical surface, the mobility is very good, and Due to the strong platform stability, it can be equipped with cameras and other devices to realize the functions of underwater shooting, perception, and recognition. "The introduction of their machine fish, Wu Zhengxing is like a few treasures.

Engineering experience is a little accumulated

The bionic machine fish has superior swimming performance, showing a good application prospect. However, experimental research and engineering applications are also separated by gaps.

Wu Zhengxing said that the pool and the wild environment of the laboratory are completely different, and theoretical methods and engineering applications are also two sets of ideas. "The theoretical and methods of theoretical and methods are validated, and the application of engineering is practical. The latter puts forward high requirements for the stability and durability of the platform."

In the early stage, Wu Zhengxing and the team did encounter many problems, but they did not stop.

Obviously, there is no problem in testing in the laboratory, but when working in the lake and the sea for a long time, the sealing and structural stability of the machine fish are prone to problems.

Coupled with the lack of engineering experience in the team, many engineering technical problems were exposed during the process of coming out of the laboratory.

there is always a solution to a problem. "This process is 'iterative'." Wu Zhengxing said that every improvement and optimization are very time -consuming, but they do not work hard, work overtime, day and night, and continue to improve according to the engineering environment. Tombing out.

Wu Zhengxing remembered that when the doctor had just graduated, he took his younger brother and students to do machine dolphin tests. He could not find a particularly deep pool in Beijing, and had to rent a diving hall, but he could only test it when the other party was not used at night.

So, at night, the laboratory was almost all sent, raising the machine, taking pictures, records, control ... everyone rushed to do it, and it was a night. "Experience is a little bit accumulated." Wu Zhengxing told the Journal of China that there was a fun change that could explain some problems.

At the beginning of the "sea test", everyone was not very suitable. The seasickness was so faint. Some colleagues could not even get a bed on the boat, and he vomited a mess.

Today, everyone has been familiar with how to keep the ship on the boat -when should I move, when to lie down, and how much action among the action, etc. It seems to be a "old sailor".

The trick of changes is "no matter how dizzy you are, you will not shrink."

Wu Zhengxing's engineering team is mainly "post -85" and "post -90s". In his words, it is "vigorous, full of energy, energy, vitality and passion."

Under the leadership of Zhou Chao, a researcher at the Institute of Automation, they "get down the sea, make it night, and eat hard."

Now, the bionic machine dolphin developed by Wu Zhengxing's team can already carry some water quality monitoring sensors to take on actual work.

He told reporters that they successfully carried out water quality monitoring application verification in Yanqi Lake, Qinghai Yushu Reservoir and other places, and achieved good results.

However, he also told reporters that the team's current bionic machine fish technology maturity needs to be improved. The intricate ocean and lakes have very high requirements for the stability and intelligence of the machine fish system. "".

Wonderful bionic fish world

Bionic machine fish is a new type of underwater mobile robot. Their application prospects have great imagination.

For example, they can be the "third eye" of biologists to explore marine life, or they can be a "good partner" taken underwater shooting in water, and may also become underwater rescue, underwater archeology, underwater equipment maintenance, detection, detection, and detection. Important tools for combustible ice and other scenarios.

Wu Zhengxing told the China Science News that at present, many universities, scientific research institutions, and science and technology companies have made many results in studying bionic machine fish.

And domestic research is not far behind. For example, Professor Wenli Team of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics is interested in the straw structure of catfish and develops bionic suction cups; Professor Li Tiefeng team in Zhejiang University is known for flexible materials; The level ofization is very high, and the glide of bionic manta -kilometers depth is achieved ... The research team where Wu Zhengxing is located takes the "high -speed and high mobility" of the machine fish as the key direction. , High -mobility bionic machine fish turn around 670 ° 670 ° per second, high -speed machine fish exceeding 7 times the length/second speed of swimming, the vertical rolling movement of bionic batti.

The research of these bionic machine fish has its own characteristics. However, compared with real fish, these research and engineering iconic fish are limited to materials and driver technology, which are still far away in terms of long -term cruise speed, instant explosive power, and perception level.

"Bionic machine fish is really not easy to move from laboratory to engineering applications, we are growing slowly." Wu Zhengxing told the China Science News.

The research team deeply cultivated the research direction of the bionic machine fish, trained a group of graduate students, and also achieved a series of scientific research results.

However, Wu Zhengxing felt that many achievements only published academic papers, "always lack a systematic and comprehensive summary."

He asked Tan Min and Yu Junzhi to discuss, and felt that some of the tasks of team research should be connected in series and systematically summarized.

As soon as the three were shot, they closed the professional science science book "Underwater Bionic Intelligent Robot".

In this book, they introduced the bionic mechanism design, sports modeling and intelligent tracking control of several machine fish platforms.

"The theoretical theoreticals are connected and the introduction is very detailed. First, I hope to share some of our academic insights and experiences and communicate with others; the other is to provide some references for staff who are engaged in similar research."

Wu Zhengxing said, "Third is to provide science science readings for some students and people who like bionic fisheries. Welcome to the wonderful world of gibsomefish with interest."

"China Science News" (2022-06-16 The 1st edition of the news)

Edit | Zhao Lu

Capture | Guo Gang

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