This little robot performs a powerful Mantis Shrimp punch

Mantis fish it has one of the most powerful forces in nature – it is connected with power generated and a .22-caliber bullet. This makes the text a visual aid for scientists interested in learning more about the basics of biomechanics. Among other things, it can make small robots capable of moving fast and powerful. Now, a team of Harvard University researchers has come up with a new biomechanical version of mantis shrimp’s a powerful accessory, and developed a small robot to mimic its movement, according to recent paper published in Growth of the National Academy of Science.

“We are fascinated by the many amazing systems we see in nature, especially if these complement or exceed what can be made with man-made weapons,” said author Robert Wood, roboticist at Harvard University at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Science (SEA). “The speed and power of the mantis, for example, is due to other complex machines. By making this amazing piece of crab, we can learn a lot more in this way than ever before. ”

Wood research team became the headline a few years ago when it was formed RoboBee, a small robot that can fly slowly. The ultimate goal of this approach is to develop interlocking robots that can move at intervals. In 2019, the Wood team he declared his victory of the smallest insect repellent robot to date in achieving a smooth, stable motion — a good type called the RoboBee X-Wing. (Kenny Breuer, writes Nature, he explained such as “a journey to compel design and architecture.”)

Now, the Wood team has focused on the latest equipment for the mantis shrimp boxing. As explained kale, crabs of mantis coming in many forms; there are 450 known species. But they can be divided into two groups: those who pierce their flesh with weapons such as spears (“spears”) and those who break their flesh (“smashers”) with large, round nails, and hammers (“extras”). The snails are very fast (about 23 meters per second, or 51 mph) and are very strong, often producing tumors in the water, making it a subsequent risk, shocking and sometimes killing of animals. In some cases the bubbles can produce sonoluminescence, while cavitation bubbles emit a small amount of light when falling.

According to 2018 survey, the secret of that powerful punch seems to come not from the big muscles but from the fountain-shaped design of the lobster’s arms, like a bow and arrow or a mouse. The snail’s muscles pull on the handles of the snail, causing the twist to absorb the force of the snail, which in turn pulls and groans like a finger. It is a latch-like machine (technically, Latch-mediated spring actuation, or LaMSA), with a small number of tiny latch-like particles.

This is understandable, and there are other small things that can make the same speeches as well: the legs of frogs and tongues, for example, as well as the ants’ ants and the seeds of an explosive plant. But biologists who have been studying this technique for decades have noticed something unusual in the mantis crab – a 1 millisecond delay between stretching and shooting.

“If you look at the camera’s high-speed camera, there is a delay in the middle where the sclerites emit by electric fire,” said first co-author Nak-seung (Patrick) Hyun, a job tracker at SEA. “It’s as if a mouse had caught a mouse but instead of dropping it immediately, it was too late. There is another way to store organs, but no one has ever been able to understand how other machines work. ”