Xia Neng, Jin Bowen, Jin Dongdong, Yang Zhengxin, Pan Chengfeng, Wang Qianqian, Ji Fengtong, Iacovacci Veronica, Majidi Carmel, Ding Yang, Zhang Li
Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, 999077, China.
Beijing Computational Science Research Center, Haidian District, Beijing, 100193, China.
Adv Mater. 2022 Apr;34(17):e2109126. doi: 10.1002/adma.202109126. Epub 2022 Mar 18.
The efficient motility of invertebrates helps them survive under evolutionary pressures. Reconstructing the locomotion of invertebrates and decoupling the influence of individual basic motion are crucial for understanding their underlying mechanisms, which, however, generally remain a challenge due to the complexity of locomotion gaits. Herein, a magnetic soft robot to reproduce midge larva's key natural swimming gaits is developed, and the coupling effect between body curling and rotation on motility is investigated. Through the authors' systematically decoupling studies using programmed magnetic field inputs, the soft robot (named LarvaBot) experiences various coupled gaits, including biomimetic side-to-side flexures, and unveils that the optimal rotation amplitude and the synchronization of curling and rotation greatly enhance its motility. The LarvaBot achieves fast locomotion and upstream capability at the moderate Reynolds number regime. The soft robotics-based platform provides new insight to decouple complex biological locomotion, and design programmed swimming gaits for the fast locomotion of soft-bodied swimmers.
无脊椎动物高效的运动能力有助于它们在进化压力下生存。重构无脊椎动物的运动并解耦个体基本运动的影响对于理解其潜在机制至关重要，然而，由于运动步态的复杂性，这通常仍然是一个挑战。在此，开发了一种用于再现摇蚊幼虫关键自然游泳步态的磁性软机器人，并研究了身体卷曲和旋转对运动能力的耦合效应。通过作者使用编程磁场输入进行的系统解耦研究，软机器人（名为LarvaBot）经历了各种耦合步态，包括仿生的左右弯曲，并揭示了最佳旋转幅度以及卷曲和旋转的同步极大地增强了其运动能力。LarvaBot在中等雷诺数范围内实现了快速运动和上游游动能力。基于软机器人的平台为解耦复杂的生物运动以及为软体游泳者的快速运动设计编程游泳步态提供了新的见解。
