Mo Xiaojuan, Romano Donato, Miraglia Marco, Ge Wenjie, Stefanini Cesare
School of Mechanical Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, China.
Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, The BioRobotics Institute, Pisa, Italy.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2020 Jul 6;8:661. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2020.00661. eCollection 2020.
Locusts generally live and move in complex environments including different kind of substrates, ranging from compliant leaves to stiff branches. Since the contact force generates deformation of the substrate, a certain amount of energy is dissipated each time when locust jumps from a compliant substrate. In published researches, it is proven that only tree frogs are capable of recovering part of the energy that had been accumulated in the substrate as deformation energy in the initial pushing phase, just before leaving the ground. The jumping performances of adult on substrates of three different compliances demonstrate that locusts are able to adapt their jumping mode to the mechanical characteristics of the substrate. Recorded high speed videos illustrate the existence of deformed substrate's recoil before the end of the takeoff phase when locusts jump from compliant substrates, which indicates their ability of recovering part of energy from the substrate deformation. This adaptability is supposed to be related to the catapult mechanism adopted in locusts' jump thanks to their long hind legs and sticky tarsus. These findings improve the understanding of the jumping mechanism of locusts, as well as can be used to develop artifact outperforming current jumping robots in unstructured scenarios.
蝗虫通常在复杂的环境中生存和活动，这些环境包括不同类型的基质，从柔软的树叶到坚硬的树枝。由于接触力会使基质产生变形，蝗虫每次从柔软的基质上跳跃时都会消耗一定量的能量。在已发表的研究中，已证明只有树蛙能够在即将离开地面之前，恢复在初始推蹬阶段作为变形能量积累在基质中的部分能量。成年蝗虫在三种不同顺应性的基质上的跳跃表现表明，蝗虫能够根据基质的机械特性调整其跳跃模式。录制的高速视频显示，当蝗虫从柔软的基质上跳跃时，在起飞阶段结束前存在变形基质的反冲，这表明它们具有从基质变形中恢复部分能量的能力。这种适应性被认为与蝗虫跳跃时采用的弹射机制有关，这得益于它们的长腿和粘性跗节。这些发现增进了对蝗虫跳跃机制的理解，并且可用于开发在非结构化场景中性能优于当前跳跃机器人的人工制品。
