Mercer Christopher, Hosoda Naoe
Smart Interface Group, Research Center for Structural Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan.
Biomimetics (Basel). 2024 Mar 18;9(3):184. doi: 10.3390/biomimetics9030184.
Many insects are able to walk vertically or upside down on both hard and soft surfaces. In beetles such as the ladybird (), intermolecular forces between tarsal setae on the footpads of the insects make this movement possible. In prior work, adhesion structures made from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that mimic the action of the tarsal setae have been developed. It is proposed that these adhesion structures could be attached to a simplified version of the leg of a ladybird and used in practical applications. For example, the leg structures could potentially be employed in small surveillance drones to enable attachment to surfaces during flights, in order to preserve battery power. Alternatively, the structures could be used in small robotic devices to enable walking on steeply inclined surfaces. In this program of work, the morphology and movement of the leg of a ladybird were closely studied using a 3D X-ray microscope and a high-speed microscope. The positions of the tendons that facilitated movement were identified. From this knowledge, a simplified leg structure using pin-joints was designed and then fabricated using 3-D printing. The PDMS adhesion structures were then attached to the leg structure. The tendons in the actual insect leg were replicated using thread. Typical detachment forces of about 4 N indicated that the simplified leg structure was, in principle, more than capable of supporting the weight of a small device and then detach successfully. Attachment/detachment movement operations were performed using a linear actuator and controlled remotely. Therefore, proof of concept has been demonstrated for the use of such a simplified ladybird leg structure for the attachment/detachment of small robotic devices to horizontal, inclined, or vertical surfaces.
许多昆虫能够在坚硬和柔软的表面上垂直行走或倒挂行走。在诸如瓢虫等甲虫中，昆虫脚垫上跗节刚毛之间的分子间力使这种运动成为可能。在先前的工作中，已经开发出了由聚二甲基硅氧烷（PDMS）制成的模仿跗节刚毛作用的粘附结构。有人提出，可以将这些粘附结构连接到瓢虫腿部的简化版本上，并用于实际应用。例如，腿部结构可能会被应用于小型侦察无人机，以便在飞行过程中附着在表面上，从而节省电池电量。或者，这些结构可用于小型机器人设备，使其能够在陡峭的倾斜表面上行走。在这项工作中，使用三维X射线显微镜和高速显微镜对瓢虫腿部的形态和运动进行了仔细研究。确定了有助于运动的肌腱的位置。基于这些知识，设计了一种使用销关节的简化腿部结构，然后使用3D打印制造出来。然后将PDMS粘附结构连接到腿部结构上。实际昆虫腿部的肌腱用线进行了复制。约4牛的典型分离力表明，简化后的腿部结构原则上完全能够支撑小型设备的重量并成功分离。附着/分离运动操作使用线性致动器进行，并通过远程控制。因此，已经证明了使用这种简化的瓢虫腿部结构将小型机器人设备附着/分离到水平、倾斜或垂直表面的概念验证。
