Related papers: Long-bone microanatomy in elephants: microstructur…
Multi-legged elongate robots hold promise for maneuvering through complex environments. Prior work has demonstrated that reliable locomotion can be achieved using open-loop body undulation and foot placement on rugose terrain. However,…
Natural slender structures, such as plant leaves, petals, and tendrils, often exhibit complex three-dimensional (3D) morphologies-including twisting, helical coiling, and saddle-bending-driven by differential growth. The resulting internal…
Tails used as inertial appendages induce body rotations of animals and robots, a phenomenon that is governed largely by the ratio of the body and tail moments of inertia. However, vertebrate tails have more degrees of freedom (e.g., number…
Bone adapts in response to its mechanical environment. This evolution of bone density is one of the most important mechanisms for developing fracture resistance. A finite element framework for simulating bone adaptation, commonly called…
Passive elastic elements can contribute to stability, energetic efficiency, and impact absorption in both biological and robotic systems. They also add dynamical complexity which makes them more challenging to model and control. The impact…
A central question in developmental biology is how size and position are determined. The genetic code carries instructions on how to control these properties in order to regulate the pattern and morphology of structures in the developing…
The Sauropoda were the largest terrestrial animals ever to have lived on this planet. As their nutritional requirements were so huge, their diet holds sway over the ecology of many Mesozoic herbivores. The diet of the sauropods is limited…
Bone serves as a remarkable example of nature's architectured material with its unique blend of strength and toughness, all at a lightweight design. Given the hierarchical nature of these materials, it is essential to understand the…
Since its discovery, the deep-sea glass sponge Euplectella aspergillum has attracted interest in its mechanical properties and beauty. Its skeletal system is composed of amorphous hydrated silica and is arranged in a highly regular and…
Terrestrial locomotion requires generating appropriate ground reaction forces which depend on substrate geometry and physical properties. The richness of positions and orientations of terrain features in the 3-D world gives limbless animals…
Among all kinds of apes, only gibbons have the slim body as human. Gibbons can move in the forest by cross arm swing, what was the locomotion mode of our arboreal ancestor. Since our ancestor had much heavier body but weaker arms than…
Connecting cell behavior to tissue shape and mechanics is a key challenge in the physics of morphogenesis. Cytoskeletal turnover precludes a fixed reference state, and tensions are actively generated independently of strain; so conventional…
Foot stiffness underlies its mechanical function, and is central to the evolution of human bipedal locomotion. The stiff and propulsive human foot has two distinct arches, the longitudinal and transverse. By contrast, the feet of non-human…
During fast locomotion - gallop, half bound - of quadruped mammals, the ground contact of the limbs in each pair do not alternate symmetrically. Animals using such asymmetrical gait thus choose whether the left or the right limb will…
Most locomotion methods for humanoid robots focus on leg-based gaits, yet natural bipeds frequently rely on hands, knees, and elbows to establish additional contacts for stability and support in complex environments. This paper introduces…
Much current study of legged locomotion has rightly focused on foot traction forces, including on granular media. Future legged millirobots will need to go through terrain, such as brush or other vegetation, where the body contact forces…
Adaptive morphogenetic robots adapt their morphology and control policies to meet changing tasks and environmental conditions. Many such systems leverage soft components, which enable shape morphing but also introduce simulation and control…
We introduce a continuous modeling approach which combines elastic responds of the trabecular bone structure, the concentration of signaling molecules within the bone and a mechanism how this concentration at the bone surface is used for…
High-resolution voxel-based micro-finite element ($\mu$FE) models derived from $\mu$CT imaging enable detailed investigation of bone mechanics but remain computationally challenging at anatomically relevant scales. This study presents a…
We propose a multiscale mechanobiological model of bone remodelling to investigate the site-specific evolution of bone volume fraction across the midshaft of a femur. The model includes hormonal regulation and biochemical coupling of bone…