Biomedical Engineering Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2011 Dec;6(4):046004. doi: 10.1088/1748-3182/6/4/046004. Epub 2011 Oct 12.
The work described in this paper is a novel design of a robotic Venus flytrap (VFT) (Dionaea muscipula Ellis) by means of ionic polymeric metal composite (IPMC) artificial muscles as distributed nanosensors and nanoactuators. Rapid muscular movements in carnivorous plants, such as VFT, which are triggered by antenna-like sensors (trigger hair), present a golden key to study distributed biomolecular motors. Carnivorous plants, such as VFT, possess built-in intelligence (trigger hairs), as a strategy to capture prey, that can be turned on in a controlled manner. In the case of the VFT, the prey that is lured by the sweet nectar in the VFT pair of jaw-like lobes has to flip and move the trigger hairs, which are colorless, bristle-like and pointed. The dynamically moved trigger hairs then electro-elastically send an electric signal to the internal ions in the lobe to migrate outwardly for the jaw-like lobes to close rapidly to capture the prey. The manner in which the VFT lobes bend inward to capture the prey shows a remarkable similarity with typical IPMCs bending in an electric field. Furthermore, the mechano-electrical sensing characteristics of IPMCs also show a remarkable resemblance to mechano-electrical trigger hairs on the lobes of the VFT. The reader is referred to a number of papers in connection with sensing and actuation of IPMCs in particular. Thus, one can integrate IPMC lobes with a common electrode in the middle of one end of the lobes to act like a spine and use IPMC bristles as trigger finger to sense the intrusion of a fly or insect to send a sensing signal to a solid state relay which then triggers the actuation circuit of the IPMC lobes to rapidly bend toward each other and close. The two lobes, which form the trap, are attached to the midrib common electrode which is conveniently termed the spine. The upper surface of each lobe is dished, and spaced along the free margins of the lobes with some 15-20 prong-like teeth. These are tough and pointed, and are inclined at an inward angle so that when the trap is sprung shut they will interlock. We have been experimenting with the VFT closing of its jaw-like lobes that close in about 0.3 s and have gained a lot of knowledge to report on the ionic and electrical mechanisms involved in the operation of such intelligent distributed biomolecular motors.
本文描述了一种通过离子聚合金属复合材料（IPMC）人工肌肉作为分布式纳米传感器和纳米执行器来设计机器维纳斯捕蝇草（ Dionaea muscipula Ellis ）的新方法。维纳斯捕蝇草等肉食植物的快速肌肉运动是由类似天线的传感器（触发毛）触发的，这为研究分布式生物分子马达提供了一把金钥匙。维纳斯捕蝇草等肉食植物具有内置的智能（触发毛），作为捕捉猎物的策略，可以以可控的方式开启。在维纳斯捕蝇草的情况下，被维纳斯捕蝇草对颚状裂片中的甜花蜜吸引的猎物必须翻转并移动无色、刚毛状和尖状的触发毛。然后，动态移动的触发毛将电信号以电弹性方式发送到裂片中的内部离子，以使裂片向外迁移，以便快速关闭颚状裂片以捕获猎物。维纳斯捕蝇草裂片向内弯曲以捕获猎物的方式与典型的 IPMC 在电场中弯曲的方式非常相似。此外，IPMC 的机电传感特性也与维纳斯捕蝇草裂片上的机电触发毛非常相似。读者可以参考许多与 IPMC 的传感和致动相关的论文。因此，可以将 IPMC 裂片与位于裂片一端中间的公共电极集成在一起，使其像脊柱一样，并使用 IPMC 刚毛作为触发指来感应苍蝇或昆虫的入侵，以将感应信号发送到固态继电器，然后触发 IPMC 裂片的致动电路快速相互弯曲并关闭。形成陷阱的两个裂片附着在中叶的公共电极上，该电极方便地称为脊柱。每个裂片的上表面都是凹形的，并且沿着裂片的自由边缘间隔开，有大约 15-20 个叉状齿。这些齿又硬又尖，并且向内倾斜，因此当陷阱突然关闭时，它们会相互锁定。我们一直在尝试用维纳斯捕蝇草关闭其颚状裂片，该过程大约需要 0.3 秒，并且已经获得了很多知识来报告涉及此类智能分布式生物分子马达操作的离子和电气机制。
