A Method for Mechanism Analysis of Frog Swimming Based on Motion Observation Experiments

For understanding the mechanism of frog swimming under water and designing a frog-inspired swimming robot, kinematics of the frog body and trajectories of joints should be obtained. In this paper, an aquatic frog, Xenopus laevis, was chosen for analysis of swimming motions which were recorded by a high speed camera, and kinematic data were processed in a swimming data extraction platform. According to the shape features of the frog, we propose a method that the frog eyes are set as the natural data extraction markers for body motion, and kinematic data of joint trajectories are calculated by the contour points on the limbs. For the data processing, a pinhole camera model was built to transform the pixel coordinate system to world coordinate system, and the errors caused by the water refraction were analyzed and corrected. Finally, from the developed data extraction platform, the kinematic data for the analysis of swimming mechanism and design of frog-inspired robot were obtained.

[1]  Zhao Jie.  An Extraction Method of Frog Jumping Trajectory for Biomimetic Robot Design , 2008 .

[2]  Tan Ye.  Camera Calibration of Stereo Vision System Based on Matlab , 2011 .

[3]  John F. Canny,et al.  A Computational Approach to Edge Detection , 1986, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[4]  Max Mühlhäuser,et al.  An IR local positioning system for smart items and devices , 2003, 23rd International Conference on Distributed Computing Systems Workshops, 2003. Proceedings..

[5]  Roger D. Quinn,et al.  Construction of a Hexapod Robot with Cockroach Kinematics Benefits both Robotics and Biology , 1998, Connect. Sci..

[6]  Rangaraj M. Rangayyan,et al.  Adaptive-neighborhood histogram equalization for image enhancement , 1992, CVGIP Graph. Model. Image Process..

[7]  Pat Monaghan,et al.  Plasticity of the duration of metamorphosis in the African clawed toad , 2008 .

[8]  R. Marsh,et al.  Jumping performance of hylid frogs measured with high-speed cine film. , 1994, The Journal of experimental biology.

[9]  Yang Bi.  Overview of Nonlinear Distortion Correction of Camera Lens , 2005 .

[10]  Andrew Zisserman,et al.  Multiple View Geometry , 1999 .

[11]  Yin Xie-zhen.  The Kinematic Analysis of S-start of Zebra Danio(Danio rerio) , 2007 .

[12]  Gang Xu,et al.  Epipolar Geometry in Stereo, Motion and Object Recognition , 1996, Computational Imaging and Vision.

[13]  Anthony Herrel,et al.  Temperature dependence of locomotor performance in the tropical clawed frog, Xenopus tropicalis , 2012, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[14]  Kuo-Kun Tseng,et al.  Automatic extraction of face contours , 2010, The 2010 International Joint Conference on Neural Networks (IJCNN).

[15]  Christopher T Richards,et al.  The kinematic determinants of anuran swimming performance: an inverse and forward dynamics approach , 2008, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[16]  Wei Xiao-cheng.  Cultural Relic Image Retrieval Based on Improved Sobel Operator , 2011 .

[17]  M. Fabrezi,et al.  Development and variation of the anuran webbed feet (Amphibia, Anura) , 2008 .

[18]  B. E. Carlson,et al.  A Common Marking Technique Affects Tadpole Behavior and Risk of Predation , 2013 .

[19]  Andrew A. Biewener,et al.  Modulation of in vivo muscle power output during swimming in the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) , 2007, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[20]  D. P. Bashor,et al.  Hopping and swimming in the leopard frog, Rana pipiens: I. Step cycles and kinematics , 1996, Journal of morphology.

[21]  C. S. G. Lee,et al.  Robotics: Control, Sensing, Vision, and Intelligence , 1987 .