Related papers: A Bioinspired Aquatic Machine Mimicking Water Calt…
Bristled and membranous insect wings have co-evolved despite apparently serving the same functionality. We emulate flight physics using an automated free-fall experiment to better understand how and why several distinct wing forms may have…
Atmospheric water harvesting is urgently needed given increasing global water scarcity. Current sorbent-based devices that cycle between water capture and release have low harvesting rates. We envision a radically different multi-material…
Marine exploration is essential to understanding ocean processes and organisms. While the use of current unmanned underwater vehicles has enabled many discoveries, there are still plenty of limitations toward exploring complex environments.…
Key to our project flora robotica is the idea of creating a bio-hybrid system of tightly coupled natural plants and distributed robots to grow architectural artifacts and spaces. Our motivation with this ground research project is to lay a…
Pipelines, vital for fluid transport, pose an important yet challenging inspection task, particularly in small, flexible biological systems, that robots have yet to master. In this study, we explored the development of an innovative robot…
We report on a new, single-step and scalable method to fabricate highly ordered, multi-directional and complex surface structures that mimic the unique morphological features of certain species found in nature. Biomimetic surface…
Fish often travel in highly organized schools. One of the most quoted functions of these configurations is energy savings. Here, we verified the hypothesis and explored the mechanism through series of experiments on "schooling" robotic…
The growing interest in bio-inspired materials is driven by the need for increasingly targeted and efficient devices that also have a low ecological impact. These devices often use specially developed materials (e.g., polymers, aptamers,…
Flapping-wing robots offer significant versatility; however, achieving efficient multi-modal locomotion remains challenging. This paper presents the design, modeling, and experimentation of a novel tailless flapping-wing robot with three…
Inspired by the navigational behavior observed in the animal kingdom and especially the navigational behavior of the ants, we attempt to simulate it in an artificial environment by implementing different kinds of biomimetic algorithms.
Technical challenges in molecule sensing and chemical detection have created an increasing demand for transformative materials with high sensitivity and specificity. Biohybrid nanopores have attracted growing interest as they can ideally…
From fireflies to heart cells, many systems in Nature show the remarkable ability to spontaneously fall into synchrony. By imitating Nature's success at self-synchronizing, scientists have designed cost-effective methods to achieve…
The primary objective of helmet design continues to be the prevention of traumatic brain injuries. Yet, achieving an optimal user experience, including aspects such as fit, thermal comfort, breathability, waterproofing, and reusability, is…
Self-propelling bacteria are a dream of nano-technology. These unicellular organisms are not just capable of living and reproducing, but they can swim very efficiently, sense the environment and look for food, all packaged in a body…
Folding nanopatterned flat sheets into complex 3D structures enables the fabrication of meta-biomaterials that combine a rationally designed 3D architecture (e.g., to tune mechanical and mass transport properties) with nanoscale surface…
We introduce a novel technique for grabbing water with a flexible solid. This new passive pipetting mechanism was inspired by floating flowers and relies purely on the coupling of the elasticity of thin plates and the hydrodynamic forces at…
From multicellular tissues to bacterial colonies, three dimensional cellular structures arise through the interaction of cellular activities and mechanical forces. Simple bacterial communities provide model systems for analyzing such…
It is well known that tuna fish in the ocean can dynamically morph their median fins to achieve optimal hydrodynamic performance, e.g. linear acceleration and maneuverability. In this study, based on the previous studies about the median…
The objective of this work is to design and develop a bio-inspired soft and articulated armwing structure which will be an integral component of a morphing aerial co-bot, Aerobat. In our design, we draw inspiration from bats. Bat membranous…
The escalating plastic waste crisis demands global action, yet mechanical recycling - currently the most prevalent strategy - remains severely underutilized. Only a small fraction of the total plastic waste is recycled in this manner,…