machines

Article
Design and Analysis of a Spherical Robot with Rolling and
Jumping Modes for Deep Space Exploration
Futao Wang 1,2 , Chaobing Li 3,4 , Shaohua Niu 1, *, Pengfei Wang 2 , Huaisong Wu 2 and Bingyang Li 2,4, *

1 School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China;

[email protected]
2 Qian Xuesen Laboratory of Space Technology, China Academy of Space Technology, Beijing 100094, China;
[email protected] (P.W.); [email protected] (H.W.)
3 China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Beijing 100048, China; [email protected]
4 College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
* Correspondence: [email protected] (S.N.); [email protected] (B.L.)

Abstract: Complex and unknown terrains in deep space exploration present great challenges to
existing exploration robots. In this paper, a multi-mode motion spherical robot with flexible motion
and strong environmental adaptability is presented. The spherical robot can roll and jump by
swinging the pendulum and rotating the 2-DOF frame. The structure design of spherical robot is
described, and the feasibility of multi-mode motion is analyzed by establishing dynamic model and
testing robot prototype. In addition, the adaptability of the spherical robot motion mechanism in
microgravity environment is preliminarily verified. The results of this analysis and test could be
provided with reference for the future research of deep space exploration robots.

Keywords: spherical robot; multi-mode motion; deep space exploration






Citation: Wang, F.; Li, C.; Niu, S.;
Wang, P.; Wu, H.; Li, B. Design and 1. Introduction
Analysis of a Spherical Robot with In deep space exploration, large detectors with high functional density and complex
Rolling and Jumping Modes for Deep structures, such as American Perseverance [1], China Zhurong [2] and so on, are usually
Space Exploration. Machines 2022, 10, used for exploration tasks. With the development of space technology, the future deep
126. https://doi.org/10.3390/
space exploration will no longer be satisfied with simple patrols and sampling tasks in
machines10020126
a limited area. The detectors are expected to detect the unknown environment quickly
Academic Editor: Giuseppe Carbone and widely. Therefore, on the basis of the existing large detectors, it may be one of the
effective schemes to carry several small detection robots with flexible movement and simple
Received: 12 January 2022
structures for the pre-detection of unknown areas [3,4].
Accepted: 7 February 2022
At present, the small-scale detection robots developed by researchers are mainly
Published: 10 February 2022
wheeled or legged robots. However, the unstructured environment with many obstacles
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral would easily cause the overturning and tumbling of these robots, further leading to the
with regard to jurisdictional claims in failure of the pre-detection task. Therefore, spherical robots with completely symmetrical
published maps and institutional affil- geometry are the development trend of small detectors in the future. Aarne Halme et al.
iations. first started the research on spherical robot, developed a single-wheel-driven spherical
motion machine and established dynamic model [5]. Ranjan Mukherjee et al. proposed a
scheme to drive a spherical robot by changing the position of the center of mass to achieve
all-round movement of the robot [6]. Paolo Fiorini et al. developed a spherical robot
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
with jumping ability, which compressed energy storage through an internal transmission
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
structure and guided springs to achieve intermittent jumping [7]. Zhao Bo et al. developed
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
a spherical robot driven by a double pendulum, which can realize linear motion, circular
conditions of the Creative Commons
motion, in-situ steering and jitter [8]. Vrunda Joshi et al. designed a spherical robot driven
Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// utilizing two internal rotors, which was based on the principle of conservation of angular
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ momentum, as well as the Eulerian parameter of the unit quaternion was used to determine
4.0/). the orientation of the robot [9]. L. Ferriere et al. designed and developed a spherical robot

Machines 2022, 10, 126. https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10020126 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/machines

Machines 2022, 10, 126 2 of 14

driven by a combination of spherical wheel and universal wheel, which improved the
bearing capacity and anti-bumping ability of the spherical robot [10]. Sung-Su Ahn et al.
designed a spherical robot with the ability to change the direction of motion at rest, an
orthogonal frame was used to achieve all-round ability to drive [11]. These spherical robots,
driven in different ways, can only achieve a single motion mode such as rolling or jumping,
which makes it difficult to cope with the complicated detection environment.
Therefore, researchers have attempted to design spherical robots with composite
motion modes. Youngmin Kim et al. designed a spherical robot with the ability to roll and
crawl, with retractable arms inside the left and right hemispheres, allowing the spherical
robot to switch between rolling and crawling modes. The robot was hindered by the
synchronous rotation of the two hemispheres, and the rolling mode followed the design of
a traditional wheeled robot [12]. Rhodri Armour et al. designed the Jollbot with the ability
to roll and jump. With a flexible metal semi-circular ring as the external skeleton, the robot
compressed the skeleton to generate deformation to store energy and achieve jumping. But
the hollow shell design would result in a small contact area with the ground and weak
rolling ability [13].
In this paper, a concept of spherical robot with the ability of rolling and jumping
motion mode is presented. Compared to spherical robots with a single motion mode [5–11],
the spherical robot that we have designed combines rolling and jumping motion modes,
thus allowing for a greater variety of movements. In contrast to other spherical robots with
a composite motion mode [12,13], this spherical robot still places emphasis on the ability to
roll as the main movement mode, which allows the spherical robot to move more efficiently.
On flat ground, the spherical robot can roll quickly and steer flexibly, and can jump over
obstacles when encountering obstacles or gullies. The structure of the spherical robot is
designed and the motion characteristics are analyzed by establishing the dynamics model.
On this basis, a spherical robot prototype with compound motion mode is developed, and
the motion ability is tested and characterized.

2. Structure Design
In order to meet the requirements for batch transportation and handling of spherical
robots, a robot with simple structures and lightweight is needed. A structure-function
integrated design method is adopted to reduce the redundancy of components as much as
possible based on realizing the rolling and jumping functions. The overall structure of the
spherical robot consists of a spherical shell, rolling drive module and jumping drive module,
as shown in Figure 1. The shell of the spherical robot is composed of two hemispheres,
which are connected by flanges to form a closed sphere structure. The rolling drive module
(Figure 1c) and the jumping drive module (Figure 1d) are placed inside the sphere shell to
control the rolling and jumping of the spherical robot, where the jumping drive module is
used as a pendulum in the rolling motion.
The rolling drive module is mainly composed of two frames and three motors, as
shown in Figure 1c. The two DC geared motors are fixed to the two sides of the first frame,
and the output shafts of the motors are fixed to the spherical shell through the flanges. By
reversing the synchronous rotation of the two DC geared motors, the first frame rotates to
achieve the forward/backward rolling motion of the spherical robot. The stepper motor is
fixed to the second frame and the output shaft through the second frame and is fixed to the
first frame. When the stepper motor works, the second frame rotates within a certain angle,
so that the pendulum is biased towards the left or right, to achieve the left/right steering
motion of the spherical robot.
The jumping ability of the spherical robot is realized by storing and releasing energy
from the spring. The jumping drive module is mainly composed of a mechanism case at
the upper part and two six-bar mechanisms at the lower part, as shown in Figure 1d. The
six-bar mechanism suspends linear springs at the left and right diagonal positions. Inside
the mechanism case, worm and worm motors, gear train, bars and pulleys with winding
wires are assembled, as shown in Figure 2.
Machines 2022, 10, 126 3 of 14

Figure 1. (a) The front view of the rolling and jumping spherical robot. (b) The isometric view of a
rolling and jumping spherical robot. (c) The rolling driving module of the spherical robot. (d) The
jumping driving module of the spherical robot.

Figure 2. The internal structure of the mechanical case.

Driven by the worm gear motor, the gear train drives an incomplete gear to rotate.
When gear 3 and gear 4 remain engaged, the rope twists as the gear rotates. The mechanism
case moves down and the six-bar mechanism is compressed so that the spring can be
stretched to complete the storage of elastic potential energy, as shown in State 1 in Figure 3.
When the mechanism case descends to the bottom of the spherical robot, the worm motor
is locked, and the limit state of spring tension is maintained by the self-locking of the
worm structure. The linear force of the spring is converted into nonlinear force by the
transmission characteristics of the six-bar mechanism, so as to reduce the friction loss
between structures in the locked state [14], as shown in State 2 in Figure 3. When gear 3
drives the incomplete gear to the non-meshing position with gear 4, the rope relaxes. The
elastic potential energy is released and converted into the kinetic energy of the mechanism
case, and the mechanism case rapidly impacts the second frame, leading to the robot jumps
Machines 2022, 10, 126 4 of 14

under the action of inertia, as shown in state 3 in Figure 3. The second frame plays a
limiting role in the movement of the mechanism case, facilitating secondary energy storage.

Figure 3. The execution process of the jumping drive structure.

It is worth mentioning that the jumping direction of the spherical robot can be changed
by adjusting the deflection angles of the first frame and the second frame, so that the
spherical robot can jump in multiple directions in place, as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. (a) The spherical robot changes the jumping direction by rotating the first frame. (b) The
spherical robot changes the jumping direction by rotating the second frame.

3. Dynamic Analysis
The spherical robot has two working modes: rolling and jumping. It is important
to clarify the motion parameters and laws of the spherical robot, and to adopt different
control strategies for task requirements in different operating environments. By simplifying
the structure of the spherical robot model, the dynamics model of the spherical robot
is established based on the operating principle of the spherical robot, and the influence
of parameters such as size and mass on the motion performance of the spherical robot
is analyzed.

3.1. Analysis of Rolling

Rolling is the basic motion mode of a spherical robot, according to its operating
principle, whose rolling motion mode can be equated to the model shown in Figure 5. The
equivalent mass of the spherical shell is expressed as m1 , the equivalent mass of the rolling
drive module is expressed as m2 and the equivalent mass of the jumping drive module
(pendulum) is expressed as m3 . The radius of the spherical shell is expressed as R and
the length of the pendulum is expressed as r. It is assumed that there is no slip between
the spherical shell and the ground during the linear rolling motion. The configuration of
the spherical robot system can be determined by the angle ϕ of rotation of the spherical
Machines 2022, 10, 126 5 of 14

shell and the inclination angle θ between the pendulum and the vertical direction, and
the generalized coordinates are (ϕ, θ). In the initial state, the contact point between the
spherical shell and the ground is point O, the rolling distance of the spherical shell is

x1 = Rϕ (1)

and the position of the pendulum is


x3 = x1 + r sinθ
(2)
z3 = R − r cosθ

Figure 5. The simplified scheme of the rolling of a spherical robot.

Therefore, the kinetic energy of the system is the sum of the kinetic energy of the
spherical shell, the rolling drive module and the jumping drive module, that is:

1 1 1 1 1
Ek = E1 + E2 + E3 = m v 2 + J1 ω1 2 + m2 v2 2 + J2 ω2 2 + m3 v3 2 (3)
2 1 1 2 2 2 2
where .
v2 = v1 = R ϕ
.
ω1 = ϕ
. (4)
ω2 = θ
. 2 . 2
v3 2 = x3 + z3
The horizontal plane where the center of the sphere is located is the zero potential
energy plane. Thus, the potential energy of the whole system is

E p = −m3 grcosθ (5)

According to the total kinetic energy and potential energy of the system, the Lagrange
function is derived as follows:
L = Ek − E p (6)
Substitute Equations (1)–(5) into Equation (6) to obtain
.
. .
  
1 2 1 2 1 2 1 .2 1 2 1 2
L= m1 R + m2 R + m3 R + J1 ϕ + m3 r + J2 θ + m3 Rrϕθcosθ + m3 grcosθ (7)
2 2 2 2 2 2
The Euler equation of the system can be presented as follows:
!
d ∂L ∂L
. − = Q j , ( j = 1, 2) (8)
dt ∂q J ∂q j

where q1 = ϕ, q2 = θ and the generalized force is the torque of the motor τ

Machines 2022, 10, 126 6 of 14

According to Equations (7) and (8), we can get

(
.. .. .
m1 R2 + m2 R2 + m3 R2 + J1 ϕ + m3 Rr θ cos θ − m3 Rr θ 2 sin θ = τ
..
.. (9)
m3 Rr ϕ cos θ + m3 r2 + J2 θ + m3 gr sin θ = −τ

Which describes the rolling configuration of the spherical robot driven by DC motors
with constant torque.
The numerical simulation method is used to analyze the effect of the mass of the
spherical shell and the mass of the pendulum (jumping drive module) on θ in the rolling
motion of the spherical robot. As shown in Figure 6a, with the increase of the mass of the
spherical shell m1 , the amplitude of θ increases and the oscillation frequency of θ decreases.
As shown in Figure 6b, with the increase of the mass of the pendulum m3 , the amplitude
of θ decreases and the oscillation frequency of θ increases, which is similar to that of the
“inverted pendulum”.

Figure 6. (a) The effect of m1 on θ. (b) The effect of m3 on θ.

Note: the length of the moment arm of the pendulum has a great influence on the
angle θ in the system. With the increase of the moment arm, the amplitude of θ decreases
and the oscillation frequency increases, as shown in Figure 7.

Figure 7. The effect of r on θ.

As the amplitude of θ decreases, the motion state of the system tends to be more
stable. Therefore, we should try to reduce the mass of the spherical robot shell, increase
the mass of the spherical robot’s internal pendulum, as well as extend the moment arm
when designing the prototype. But in the actual design process, the interference of the
mechanism movement should also be considered.
Machines 2022, 10, 126 7 of 14

3.2. Analysis of Steering

The steering of the spherical robot is jointly acted by the motor controlling rolling and
steering. The steering performance of the spherical robot is analyzed: the radius of the
spherical shell is expressed as R and the maximum angle of the internal pendulum bias to
the left and right direction is expressed as β, as shown in Figure 8, the minimum steering
radius of the spherical robot is
L = R/tanβ (10)

Figure 8. The simplified scheme of the steering of a spherical robot.

Equation (10) shows that the steering radius of the spherical robot is related to the
size of the spherical shell and the deviation angle of the internal pendulum to the left and
right direction. With the decrease of the size of the spherical shell and the increase of the
deviation angle of the internal pendulum to the left and right, the steering radius of the
spherical robot will decrease and the action will be more flexible.

3.3. Analysis of Jumping

The jumping function of the spherical robot is realized by controlling the spring energy
storage and releasing by the jumping drive module, as shown in Figure 9. m31 is the mass
of the mechanism case, m32 is the mass of the six-bar mechanism, m1 is the mass of the
spherical shell, m2 is the mass of the frame, L1 is the length of the spring in the limit energy
storage position, L2 is the original length of the spring without stretching, k is the stiffness
coefficient of the linear spring.

Figure 9. The simplified scheme of the jumping of a spherical robot.

The internal collision is assumed to be inelastic and the energy loss caused by friction
is ignored. The relation between the storage energy E and the velocity of the mechanism
case before the collision is:
1 1
E = k∆L2 = m31 v1 2 . (11)
2 2
where, ∆L = L2 − L1 .
Machines 2022, 10, 126 8 of 14

When the mechanism case moves upward and collides with the second frame, accord-
ing to the law of momentum conservation, there is:

m31 v1 = (m1 + m2 + m31 + m32 )v2 . (12)

where, v2 is the initial jumping speed of the system, and the jumping height of the system
can be expressed as
1
z(t) = v2 t − gt2 . (13)
2
According to Equation (13), the maximum vertical jumping height of the spherical
robot under ideal conditions is

m31 k∆L2
zmax = 2
. (14)
(m1 + m2 + m31 + m32 ) 2g

According to Equation (14), when the mass of each part of the spherical robot and
the tensile length of the spring ∆L are constant, the maximum jumping height is mainly
determined by the spring stiffness coefficient. The effect of different spring stiffness
coefficients on the jumping height of the spherical robot is shown in Figure 10.

Figure 10. The influence of springs with different stiffness coefficients on jumping height.

The selection of spring is limited by the torque of the motor. In addition to trying to
select the appropriate spring, adjusting the mass size of m31 can also help the spherical
robot to obtain a better jumping height under the condition that other parts of the mass
m31
remain the same. The curve of zmax = 2 A is shown in the Figure 11. When
(m1 +m2 +m31 +m32 )
the mass of m31 approaches to the m1 + m2 + m32 , a more desirable jumping height of
2
1
4( m + m + m )
A can be obtained, where A denotes the relevant parameter k∆L
2g of the spring.
1 2 32

Figure 11. The influence of different values m31 on the maximum jumping height.
Machines 2022, 10, 126 9 of 14

4. Experiments
According to the structure design scheme and theoretical analysis results, a spherical
robot prototype is designed. The total mass of the prototype is about 800 g and the diameter
is 150 mm. The specific parameters are shown in the following Table 1. Rolling and jumping
abilities were tested and characterized in different scenarios.

Table 1. Nomenclature of the model and the corresponding robot specifications.

Outer Shell
Mass m1 188 g
Radius R 75 mm
Moment of inertia J1 6.0 × 105 g·mm2
Rolling drive module
Mass m2 173 g
Moment of inertia J2 1.6 × 105 g·mm2
Pendulum length L 23 mm
Motor rated torque τ 49 mN·m
Maximum deflection angle of the second frame β 30◦
Jumping drive module
Mass of m31 390 g
Mass of six-bar mechanism m32 38 g
Stiffness coefficient of spring k 147 g/mm
The stretch length of the spring ∆L 48 mm

4.1. Rolling Ability Test

The rolling motion ability directly affects the steering and climbing ability of the
spherical robot. In this section, the rolling straightness, speed, steering radius and climbing
angle of the spherical robot are tested.

4.1.1. Straight Rolling Test

In order to reduce the testing error of the robot in the rolling process, the spherical
robot is placed on the ground with high friction to test its straight rolling ability, as shown
in Figure 12, where the yellow line is the reference line and the red line is the actual rolling
track of the spherical robot. According to the measurement, the robot moves forward
about 1200 mm in straight rolling mode with a rolling speed of about 800 mm/s, and the
deviation distance is about 82 mm.

Figure 12. Rolling motion of the spherical robot.

4.1.2. Steering Test

The steering of the spherical robot is realized by the relative rotation of the second
frame and the first frame. The second frame rotates to the maximum angle to measure the
minimum steering radius of the robot. The spherical robot was placed on the ground to
complete the semicircle trajectory, as shown in Figure 13. Frames 1–4 describes the position
of the spherical robot at different times, and the yellow line is the approximate trajectory.
According to the measurement results, the minimum steering radius of the spherical robot
is about 150 mm.
Machines 2022, 10, 126 10 of 14

Figure 13. Steering motion of the spherical robot.

4.1.3. Climbing Test

A slope is built on the horizontal ground with an acrylic plate. By adjusting the
inclination of the slope, the maximum slope of the spherical robot climbing at the fastest
rolling speed is about 10◦ and the climbing test process is shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14. Climbing motion of the spherical robot.

4.2. Jumping Ability Test

In order to reduce energy loss originated from friction and other factors, the maximum
jump height of the spherical robot is measured by the vertical jump test and the ability of
the spherical robot to jump in multiple directions is verified.

4.2.1. Vertical Jumping Test

The spherical robot is placed on the support seat to make the internal jump driving
mechanism perpendicular to the ground. By controlling the movement of the internal jump
driving module, the energy storage and release of the spring are completed to realize the
jump movement of the spherical robot. Two linear springs with a stiffness coefficient of 147
g/mm are selected. After measurement, the final vertical jumping height is about 170 mm,
1.13 times its own height. The experimental process is shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15. Vertical jumping motion of the spherical robot.

Machines 2022, 10, 126 11 of 14

4.2.2. Multidirectional Jumping Test

In order to test the jumps ability of a spherical robot in multiple directions in place,
a support with a groove is designed and the spherical robot was placed in the groove.
No movement of the spherical robot occurs when the rotation of the 2-DOF frame shifts
the center of mass, which simulates a situation where the spherical robot falls into a
narrow gully and the sphere is limited. When the first frame is rotated, the spherical robot
can jump in the north and south directions, as in Figure 16(a1,a2,b1,b2), and when the
second frame is rotated, the spherical robot can jump in the west and east directions, as
in Figure 16(a3,a4,b3,b4). Two views of the jumping process of the spherical robot are
shown, where (a1–a4) show the side view of the jump in four directions and (b1–b4) show
the top view of the jump in four directions. When the two frames are combined to rotate,
multiple jumping directions can be formed, giving the spherical robot the ability to jump in
multiple directions.

Figure 16. Cont.

Machines 2022, 10, 126 12 of 14

Figure 16. Spherical robot jumps in multiple directions. (a1–a4) Side views of the jumping motion.
(b1–b4) Top views of the jumping motion.

4.3. Obstacle Crossing Ability Test

The spherical robot is placed in the actual environment with obstacles, and the ability
to cross the obstacles through the switching of rolling and jumping modes is tested, as
shown in Figure 17a–c indicate that the spherical robot rolls from rest and encounters
an obstacle, and d–f indicate that the spherical robot crosses the obstacle by jumping.
The experiment proves that the spherical robot has good rolling walking and obstacle
surmounting ability in a complex environment.

Figure 17. The spherical robot jumps over obstacles. (a–c) Rolling motion and encountering obstacles.
(d–f) Obstacle crossing by jumping.

4.4. Comparison of Test Results with Theoretical Values

Substituting the parameters of the robot prototype into Equations (9), (10) and (14),
the theoretical model with a rolling speed of 1005 mm/s, a steering radius of 131 mm
and a jumping height of 212 mm is obtained. Comparing the theoretical values with the
measured data, as shown in Table 2, there is some error between the theoretical value
and actual values. Considering that the theoretical data comes from the simplified model,
and the energy loss caused by mechanical friction and transmission efficiency among
internal structural parts during the actual movement of the prototype is not considered,
the error between the theoretical value and the actual value is considered to be within a
reasonable range.
Machines 2022, 10, 126 13 of 14

Table 2. Motion characteristics of the theoretical model and prototype.

The Theoretical Value The Actual Value The Relative Error

Rolling velocity 1005 mm/s 800 mm/s 20.4%
Steering radius 131 mm 150 mm 14.5%
Jumping height 212 mm 170 mm 19.8%

4.5. Applicability in Microgravity

Considering the future application scenarios, the rolling and jumping capabilities
of the spherical robot under different gravity environments on the moon and Mars are
analyzed by numerical simulation. By altering the gravity conditions, it can be concluded
from Equations (9) and (14) that the spherical robot shows better motion in the microgravity
environment, as shown in Figure 18.

Figure 18. Performance of spherical robot in different gravity environments. (a) Rolling in the
environment of earth, moon and Mars. (b) Jumping in the environment of earth, moon and Mars.

5. Conclusions
In this paper, a spherical robot with both rolling and jumping modes is designed. By
adjusting the position of the pendulum and the rotation angle of the two frames, the robot
can roll, turn and jump in multiple directions. The motion characteristics of the spherical
robot are analyzed by establishing the dynamic model. In addition, the influence of the
dimensions and weights of the robot components on its motion capability is analyzed by
numerical simulation. The results show that the rolling stability of the spherical robot
can be improved by decreasing the mass of the spherical shell while increasing the mass
of the internal “pendulum” and extending the moment arm of the “pendulum”. When
the mass of the mechanism case in the jumping module is equal to the total mass of the
remaining parts of the spherical robot, the jumping height reaches the maximum. Based on
the numerical simulation results, a spherical robot prototype is designed, and its motion
performance is tested and characterized. The maximum rolling speed of the spherical robot
is measured to be approximately 800 mm/s, with a lateral deviation of approximately
82 mm over a distance of 1200 mm, and the minimum steering radius of the spherical robot
is approximately 150 mm. The vertical jump height of the spherical robot is 170 mm, and
the ability of the spherical robot to jump in multiple directions is verified. The actual motion
parameters of the spherical robot are compared with the theoretical values. Considering the
energy loss caused by inelastic collision and friction between parts, the error between the
two values is acceptable. It is worth mentioning that, in order to verify the applicability of
the spherical robot motion mechanism in different gravity environments, the microgravity
environments of the moon and Mars are simulated, and the rolling and jumping ability
are analyzed. The results show that in the microgravity environment, the spherical robot
can show faster rolling speed and higher jumping height, which preliminarily verifies
the feasibility of the robot to move quickly and widely in the unstructured terrain of an
unknown planet.
Machines 2022, 10, 126 14 of 14

In the future, the internal space layout of the spherical robot will be rationalized and a
lightweight design will be carried out in combination with the specific detection function
load, to improve its detection capability while ensuring superior motion performance. On
this basis, the autonomous control and coordination methods of spherical robots are studied,
which lays a foundation for the cluster operation of microrobots for deep space exploration.

Author Contributions: Conceptualization, F.W. and S.N.; data curation, F.W. and B.L.; methodology,
F.W. and B.L.; software, H.W.; investigation, C.L.; resources, P.W.; writing—original draft preparation,
F.W.; writing—review and editing, F.W.; supervision, B.L.; project administration, S.N. and B.L.; All
authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Acknowledgments: This work was sponsored by Technology 173 Program Technical Field Fund(2019-
JCJQ-JJ-459).
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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