Li Suyi, Wang K W
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University, Clemson, SC, 29634, USA.
Bioinspir Biomim. 2016 Dec 20;12(1):011001. doi: 10.1088/1748-3190/12/1/011001.
Plants exhibit a variety of reversible motions, from the slow opening of pine cones to the impulsive closing of Venus flytrap leaves. These motions are achieved without muscles and they have inspired a wide spectrum of engineered materials and structures. This review summarizes the recent developments of plant-inspired adaptive structures and materials for morphing and actuation. We begin with a brief overview of the actuation strategies and physiological features associated to these plant movements, showing that different combinations of these strategies and features can lead to motions with different deformation characteristics and response speeds. Then we offer a comprehensive survey of the plant-inspired morphing and actuation systems, including pressurized cellular structures, osmotic actuation, anisotropic hygroscopic materials, and bistable systems for rapid movements. Although these engineered systems are vastly different in terms of their size scales and intended applications, their working principles are all related to the actuation strategies and physiological features in plants. This review is to promote future cross-disciplinary studies between plant biology and engineering, which can foster new solutions for many applications such as morphing airframes, soft robotics and kinetic architectures.
植物表现出各种可逆运动，从松果的缓慢张开到捕蝇草叶子的快速闭合。这些运动无需肌肉就能实现，并且启发了各种各样的工程材料和结构。本文综述了受植物启发的用于变形和驱动的自适应结构和材料的最新进展。我们首先简要概述与这些植物运动相关的驱动策略和生理特征，表明这些策略和特征的不同组合可导致具有不同变形特征和响应速度的运动。然后，我们全面介绍了受植物启发的变形和驱动系统，包括加压细胞结构、渗透驱动、各向异性吸湿材料以及用于快速运动的双稳态系统。尽管这些工程系统在尺寸规模和预期应用方面有很大差异，但它们的工作原理都与植物中的驱动策略和生理特征相关。本文旨在促进植物生物学与工程学未来的跨学科研究，这可为许多应用催生新的解决方案，如变形机身、软体机器人和动态建筑。
