Phys.org August 4, 2022 Various artificial visual systems including those based on human eyes, insect eyes and fisheyes have been developed. However, attempts to develop systems for both terrestrial and aquatic environments and bioinspired electronic eyes are restricted in their maximum field of view to a hemispherical field of view (around 180°). An international team of researchers (South Korea, USA – UT Austin, MIT) has developed an amphibious artificial vision system with a panoramic visual field inspired by the functional and anatomical structure of the compound eyes of a fiddler crab. They integrated a microlenses array with a graded refractive […]
Tag Archives: Biomimetics
Researchers create biosensor by turning spider silk into optical fiber
Phys.org August 2, 2022 Researchers in Taiwan harvested dragline spider silk from the giant wood spider Nephila pilipes, which is native to Taiwan. They enveloped the silk, which is just 10 microns in diameter, with a biocompatible photocurable resin and cured it to form a smooth protective surface creating an optical fiber structure that was 100 microns in diameter, with the spider silk acting as the core and the resin as the cladding. They added a biocompatible nano-layer of gold to enhance the fiber’s sensing abilities. This process formed a thread-like structure with two ends. To use the fiber to […]
Bioinspired whisker arrays can work as antennae to detect sources of flow disturbances under water or in the air
Science Daily July 20, 2022 Previous behavioral research on live sea lions showed that the whisker system and the animal’s neural processing is seemingly able to detect the Direction of Arrival (DoA) from just one side of the heads vibrissal pads. Therefore, temporal differences between whisker stimulation are a likely method for determining the angle. Researchers in the UK developed a theoretical model based on multilateration and tested by experimental studies on a 2D array of bio-inspired whiskers with regular spacing, and a 3D array of bio-inspired whiskers on a model head of a sea lion, as used in their […]
Development of new biomaterial with super strength inspired by limpets
Phys.org July 7, 2022 The small aquatic snail-like mollusks use a tongue bristling with tiny, microscopic teeth to scrape food off rocks and into their mouths. These teeth contain a hard yet flexible composite, which in 2015 was found to be the strongest known biologically occurring material, far stronger than spider silk and comparable to man-made substances, including carbon fiber and Kevlar. An international team of researchers (UK, Poland USA – industry, Switzerland) has replicated the limpet tooth developmental processes ex vivo, where isolated limpet tissue and cells in culture generated new biomimetic structures. Transcriptomic analysis of each developmental stage […]
Robotic lightning bugs take flight
MIT News June 21, 2022 Inspired by fireflies an international team of researchers (USA – MIT, China) developed a 650 mg aerial robot powered by four electroluminescent (EL) dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) that have distinct colors and patterns. They also tweaked the fabrication process so the actuators could emit multicolored and patterned light. To fabricate a glowing actuator, they incorporated electroluminescent zinc sulphate particles into the elastomer. During robot flight, a strong (>40 V/μm) and high frequency (400 Hz) electric field is generated within the DEA, exciting the EL particles to emit light. As they are too light to carry […]
Rubbery camouflage skin exhibits smart and stretchy behaviors
EureakAlert June 13, 2022 Cephalopod (octopuses, squids, and cuttlefish) skin is a soft organ that can endure complex deformations, such as expanding, contracting, bending, and twisting, capable of cognitive sensing and responding that enable the skin to sense light, react and camouflage its wearer. While artificial skins with either these physical or these cognitive capabilities have existed, none has simultaneously exhibited both qualities. An international team of researchers (USA – Pennsylvania State University, University of Houston, South Korea, China) has developed artificial neuromorphic cognitive skins based on arrayed, biaxially stretchable synaptic transistors constructed entirely out of elastomeric materials. Through investigation […]
Exploring chemical logic systems that can respond to environmental conditions
Phys.org May 13, 2022 Even the simplest form of life (a single cell), can sense various chemical and physical stimuli and process this information through their intrinsic complex intracellular logic to perform complicated cellular functions such as cell division, cell motility, and cargo transport. Harnessing the complete potential of such systems, regarding their ability to process information from multiple external stimuli and perform programmable spatiotemporal functions remains unexplored. An international team of researchers (South Korea, India) has developed out-of-equilibrium chemical systems, which can sense multiple external stimuli ( light, sound, atmospheric oxygen) and process this information to execute programmable life-like […]
Water as a ‘glue’ for elasticity enhanced, wet attachment of biomimetic structures
Phys.org March 29, 2022 Octopus, clingfish, and larva use soft cups to attach to surfaces under water. Using a novel micro cup, fabricated by two-photon lithography, coupled with in situ pressure sensor and observation cameras, an international team of researchers (Germany, USA – University of Illinois) has detailed the nature of its attachment/detachment under water. It involves elasticity-enhanced hydrodynamics generating “self-sealing” and high suction at the cup-substrate interface, converting water into “glue.” Detachment is mediated by seal breaking. They identified three distinct mechanisms of breaking including elastic buckling of the cup rim. A mathematical model described the interplay between the […]
Blowin’ in the wind – tiny battery-free sensor devices float like dandelion seeds (w/video)
Nanowerk March 16, 2022 Inspired by plants which disperse their seeds using the wind researchers at the University of Washington developed and demonstrated wind dispersal of battery-free wireless sensing devices. The millimetre-scale devices weigh 30 milligrams and were designed on a flexible substrate using programmable, off-the-shelf parts to enable scalability and flexibility for various sensing and computing applications. The system is powered using lightweight solar cells and an energy harvesting circuit that is robust to low and variable light conditions and has a backscatter communication link that enables data transmission. To achieve the wide-area dispersal and upright landing they developed thin-film […]
Hoverfly brains mapped to detect the sound of distant drones
Science Daily March 15, 2022 Insect vision systems have been mapped for some time now to improve camera-based detections. Researchers in Australia shown that it is possible pick up clear and crisp acoustic signatures of drones, including very small and quiet ones, using an algorithm based on the hoverfly’s visual system. They converted acoustic signals into spectrograms and used the neural pathway of the hoverfly brain to improve and suppress unrelated signals and noise, increasing the detection range for the sounds they wanted to detect. They looked for narrowband and/or broadband to pick up drone acoustics at short to medium […]