Solid particle erosion on the material surfaces is a very common phenomenon in the industrial field, which greatly affects the efficiency, service life, and even poses a great threat to life safety. However, current research on erosion resistance is not only inefficient, but also limited to the improvement of hardness and toughness of materials. Inspired by typical scorpion (Parabuthus transvaalicus)

The development of water purification device using solar energy has received tremendous attention. Despite extensive progress, traditional photothermal conversion usually has a high cost and high environmental impact. To overcome this problem, we develop a low cost, durable and environmentally friendly solar evaporator. This bi-layered evaporator is constructed with a thermal insulating polyvinylidene

The article “Anthropomorphism Indexes of the Kinematic Chain for Artificial Hands, written by Immaculada Llop-Harillo, Antonio Pérez-González, Javier Andrés-Esperanza, was originally published electronically on the publisher’s internet portal (currently SpringerLink) on May 23rd 2020 without open access. With the author(s)’ decision to opt for Open Choice the copyright of the article changed in October

Misalignment is one of the most common causes of wear in bush bearings. Design improvements have been proposed by many researchers. Unfortunately, it did not efficiently reduce the misalignment. Classic geometrical designs sometimes reach their limits. For this reason, a bio-inspired design is proposed to solve the impediment. In this article, a bio-inspired bearing suited to misalignment was tested

Performing complex tasks by soft robots in constrained environment remains an enormous challenge owing to the limitations of flexible mechanisms and control methods. In this paper, a novel biomimetic soft robot driven by Shape Memory Alloy (SMA) with light weight and multi-motion abilities is introduced. We adapt deep learning to perceive irregular targets in an unstructured environment. Aiming at

To help walking, using assistive devices can be considered to reduce the loads caused by weight and to effectively decrease the propulsive forces. In this study, a mobility Saddle-Assistive Device (S-AD) supporting body weight while walking was evaluated on two healthy volunteers. This device is based on the support of body weight against gravity with the help of a saddle, which is not used in other

Fingers are the basic components of anthropomorphic hands. At present, most anthropomorphic fingers utilize rigid joints, which have obvious fabrication and assembly complexities as well as limited flexibility and adaptability. Thus, some anthropomorphic fingers were attempted to utilize compliant joints learned from bioinspiration, but they have a limited self-resetting ability and lateral deformation

Inspired by the unique, agile and efficient flapping flight of insects, we present a novel sub-100 mg, electromagnetically driven, tailless, flapping-wing micro robot. This robot utilizes two optimized electromagnetic actuators placed back to back to drive two wings separately, then kinematics of each wing can be independently controlled, which gives the robot the ability to generate all three control

Human shoulder joints exhibit stable but highly active characteristics due to a large amount of soft tissues. Finite Element (FE) modelling plays an important role in enhancing our understanding of the mechanism of shoulder disorders. However, the previous FE shoulder models largely neglected the Three-Dimensional (3D) volume of soft tissues and their sophisticated interactions with the skeletons.

Due to its real-time control, high folding ratio, and structure self-locking, flexible large curvature self-folding devices have broad application prospects, such as foldable human implants, flexible electronics, and flexible robots. Driven by this background, flexible large curvature folding butterfly (Polyura eudamippus) proboscises were studied in this work. The folding ratio of the proboscises

The effect of concurrent attendance of two inhibitors of bone degradation, namely Alendronate (Ald) sodium trihydrate and Strontium (Sr), on Calcium Phosphate Cement (CPC) characteristics was explored. To this aim, 5 wt% Strontium and 21 mM Alendronate sodium trihydrate were used in calcium phosphate cement and setting time, ion and drug release were analyzed. RAW264.7 and G cell were cultured on cement

Exoskeleton robots have demonstrated the potential to rehabilitate stroke dyskinesia. Unfortunately, poor human-machine physiological coupling causes unexpected damage to human of muscles and joints. Moreover, inferior humanoid kinematics control would restrict human natural kinematics. Failing to deal with these problems results in bottlenecks and hinders its application. In this paper, the simplified

Wing deformation capture with simulation is a mixed experimental-numerical approach whereby the wing deformation during flapping is captured using high-speed cameras and used as an input for the numerical solver. This is an alternative approach compared to pure experiment or full fluid structure interaction simulation. This study is an update to the previous paper by Tay et al., which aims to address

The click beetle can jump up with a hinge when it is on the dorsal side. This jumping mechanism is simple and suitable as an inspiration for designing a simple, small, and reliable hopping robot. We report a single-legged robot inspired by the jumping mechanism of click beetles. It is 85 mm high, 60 mm long, and 41 mm wide, and weighs about 49 g. The robot has good hopping performance that the hopping

The past decade has witnessed significant efforts in addressing the global metallic corrosion challenge, with a focus on avoiding or mitigating huge economic losses incurred by corrosion and on the development of protective coatings on metals. Herein, a synergistic anticorrosion coating with both superhydrophobicity and self-healing properties was reported, through a facile replica molding method by

Tantalum (Ta) alloys have been widely used as bone repair materials due to their excellent biocompatibility. In present work, zinc (Zn) incorporated ceramic coatings with micro/nano hierarchical structure were successfully fabricated on Ta by micro-arc oxidation and hydrothermal treatment. The content of Zn ions is about (1.35 ± 0.3) wt%. Cortex-like rough morphology (Ra 1.504 μn) with irregular vermiform

The title was incorrect in the published paper and should be revised as “Facile Fabrication of Biomimetic Water Pinning Microstructures on Polyethylene Surfaces with Robust Superhydrophobic Wetting State”.

This paper describes the bioinspiration process to derive design concepts for new deep foundation systems that have greater axial capacity per unit volume of pile material compared to conventional deep foundations. The study led to bioinspired ideas that provide greater load capacity by increasing the pile shaft resistance. The bioinspiration approach used problem-solving strategies to define the problem

This article proposes a novel pneumatic soft actuator, which can perform bending in different directions under positive or negative air pressure. The actuators are composed of multiple airbags, and the design of the airbags is analyzed. A pneumatic soft robot based on these soft actuators is designed and fabricated by 3D printing technology. This robot consists of three soft multi-bladder actuators

Similarities and differences of a large-scale flapping-wing robot with fixed-wing UAVs in equations of motion, trim curves, and aerodynamic forces in forward flight are discussed in this paper and a simplified model for flapping flight is presented. Due to the high Wing to Total Weight (WTW) ratio of large-scale ornithopters, simple rigid body dynamics is not accurate enough for flight dynamics modeling

Under the requirement of the force controller of hydraulic quadruped robots, the goal of this work is to accurately track the force commands at the level of the hydraulic drive unit. The main contribution focuses on the development of a force-controlled compensation scheme, which is specifically aimed at the key issues affecting the hydraulic quadrupedal locomotion. With this idea, based on a P-Q valve-controlled

To enable the capacity of climbing robots to work on steep surfaces, especially on inverted surfaces, is a fundamental but challenging task. This capacity can extend the reachable workspace and applications of climbing robots. A track-type inverted climbing robot called SpinyCrawler was developed in this paper. Using a spiny track with an opposed gripping mechanism, the robot was experimentally demonstrated

Over a long period of time, arthropods evolve to have two excellent mechanical sensilla of slit sensilla and trichobothria sensilla, which construct a perfect perception system. The former mainly perceives the change of the in-the-plane force while the latter perceives that of the out-of-plane force. In recent years, these two sensilla have attracted researchers as the models for developing artificial

One of the major respects of the autonomous capability of underwater robots in unknown environment is to be capable of global path planning and obstacles avoiding when encountering abrupt events. For the Spherical Underwater Robot (SUR) to fulfill autonomous task execution, this paper proposed a novel fuzzy control method that incorporates multi-sensor technology to guide underwater robots in unknown

The aerodynamic characteristics of a normal hovering foil with Synthetic Jet (SJ) actuation are numerically studied in this work. An elliptic foil with ratio of 4 undergoes the imposed translation and rotation synchronously. A pair of SJs with the same frequency and strength is placed on the upper and lower surfaces of the foil. Thus, the local flow field around the foil would be influenced. At the

In this paper, we studied the acceleration behavior of a quadruped animal during a galloping motion. Because the development of many quadruped robotic systems has been focused on dynamic movements, it is obvious that guidance from the dynamic behavior of quadruped animals is needed for robotics engineers. To fulfill this demand, this paper deals with analysis of the galloping motions of a domestic

This study is aimed at exploring a technology that can use the human physiological information, such as Force Myography (FMG) signals to provide sensory feedback to prosthetic hand users. This is based on the principle that with the intent to move the prosthetic hand, the existing limbs in the arm recruit specific group of muscles. These muscles react with a change in the cross-sectional area; piezoelectric

This work deals with the investigation of the synergistic effect of bagasse ash with sisal-banana-kenaf-flax fibers reinforced epoxy composite for their flexural behavior. The composites with three combinations of hybrid fibers viz. sisal/kenaf (HSK), banana/kenaf (HBK), and banana/flax (HBF) with bagasse ash (BGA) as filler material are fabricated using vacuum bag assisted resin transfer molding.

To perform flow-related behaviors in darkness, blind cavefish have evolved Lateral Line Systems (LLSs) with constriction canals to enhance hydrodynamic sensing capabilities. Mimicking the design principles, we developed a Canal-type Artificial Lateral Line (CALL) device featuring a biomimetic constriction canal. The hydrodynamic characterization results revealed that the sensitivity of the canal LLS

We proposed and developed a small bionic amphibious spherical robot system for tasks such as coastal environment monitoring and offshore autonomous search and rescue. Our third-generation bionic small amphibious spherical robots have many disadvantages, such as the lack of maneuverability and a small operating range. It is difficult to accomplish underwater autonomous motion control with these robots

Risky gait activities lead to severe wear in orthopaedic implants during postoperative periods. The aim of the present study is to predict the linear and volumetric wear of zirconia (ZrO2) vs alumina (Al2O3) hip implants subject to risky and normal gait activities. Initially, the gait loads pertaining to risky gait activities were converted to equivalent normal loads. Then using the computed normal

In this paper, we fabricate a biomimetic superhydrophobic coating on an X90 pipeline steel substrate by electrodeposition of copper, hydrothermal treatment to form a copper oxide layer, and subsequent surface modification with Stearic Acid (SA). The coating exhibits static contact angles of water of 160° ± 3.1° in the air and 170.7° ± 2.5° in cyclopentane, indicating the strongly water-repelling nature

In this work, a biomimetic coating of hydroxyapatite (HA)-and titania (TiO2) was deposited on low elastic β-phase Ti-35Nb-7Ta-5Zr (β-TNTZ) alloy by plasma spray deposition technique for orthopedic applications. The effect of TiO2 reinforcement on microstructure, mechanical properties, and bioactivity was investigated. The morphology, coating thickness, elemental composition, and phase composition of

The coffee ring effect commonly exists in droplet deposition patterns, which fundamentally affects scientific research and industrial applications, like pharmaceutical purification, salt manufacturing, etc. Some researchers have tried different solutions to control the distributions of droplet deposition patterns, but most control deposits by adjusting droplet characteristics. In this work, droplet

Research into evaporating droplets on patterned surfaces has grown exponentially, since the capacity to control droplet morphology has proven to have significant technological utility in emerging areas of fundamental research and industrial applications. Here, we incorporate two interest domains — complex wetting patterns of droplets on structured surfaces and the ubiquitous coffee-ring phenomenon

In the present study, we investigated the evaporation process and deposition pattern of saline droplet on a copper substrate with different roughness under 40 °C ambient temperature. These four substrates are classified as smooth surface and rough surface based on their droplet contact angles. It has been found in this study that the evaporation pattern of droplets has a strong relationship to substrate

Super-hydrophobic surfaces are quite common in nature, inspiring people to continually explore its water-repellence property and applications to our lives. It has been generally agreed that the property of super-hydrophobicity is mainly contributed by the microscale or nanoscale (or even smaller) architecture on the surface. Besides, there is an energy barrier between the Cassie-Baxter wetting state

Gradient wettability is important for some living organisms. Herein, the dynamic responses of water droplets impacting on the surfaces of four regions along the wing vein of cicada Cryptotympana atrata fabricius are investigated. It is revealed that a gradient wetting behavior from hydrophilicity (the Wenzel state) to hydrophobicity and further to superhydrophobicity (the Cassie-Baxter state) appears

At present, biomimetic antifouling research objects are mostly concentrated on the fast-moving marine organism, but the anti-fouling effect of the low-speed or static marine equipment is not obvious. This paper describes the anti-fouling mechanism of soft coral (Sarcophyton trocheliophorum), including the physical defense mechanism and the bactericidal ability of mucus and coral powder. As a sessile

Collagen is one of the most versatile tissues of living organisms that comes in many shapes and sizes, providing functions ranging from tissue matrix through, ligament formation up to enabling mineralization in teeth. The detailed light microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) observations conducted in this study, allowed us to investigate morphology, sizes and crimp patterns of collagen fibers

The problem of contact line pinning on surfaces is pervasive and contributes to problems from ring stains to ice formation. Here we provide a single conceptual framework for interfacial strategies encompassing five strategies for modifying the solid-liquid interface to remove pinning and increase droplet mobility. Three biomimetic strategies are included, (i) reducing the liquid-solid interfacial area

The ability to grip unhatched eggs is a skill exploited by the ants Harpegnathos venator, as they care their brood in tunneled nests, which is of extreme difficulty to keep the eggs intact while gripping. In this paper we propose a mathematical modeling method to elucidate the mechanism of such a gripping behavior in the ant mandibles. The new method can be subdivided into following steps. As a preliminary

Redundancy facilitates some of the most remarkable capabilities of humans, and is therefore omni-present in our physiology. The relationship between redundancy in robotics and biology is investigated in detail on the Series Elastic Dual-Motor Actuator (SEDMA), an actuator inspired by the kinematic redundancy exhibited by myofibrils. The actuator consists of two motors coupled to a single spring at

Wettability is known to play a major role in enhancing pool boiling heat transfer. In this context bioinspired surfaces can bring significant advantages in pool boiling applications. This work addresses a numerical investigation of bubble growth and detachment on a biphilic surface pattern, namely in a superhydrophobic region surrounded by a hydrophilic region. Surface characteristics resemble bio-inspired

Bionic inspiration from human thumb and index finger was the drive to design a high-performance two-finger dexterous hand. The size of each phalanx and the motion range of each joint in the human thumb and index finger were summarized, and the features of three grasping patterns were described in detail. Subsequently, a two-finger dexterous bionic hand with 6 Degrees of Freedom (DoFs) was developed

The application of trenchless technology is the trend of underground public facilities’ installation, replacement and repairing. As the soil-engaging component during penetrating bore, the working resistance of penetration head has remarkable effect on energy consumption of the whole working process. Some typical soil-digging animals, like pangolin and earthworm, they own special micro structures on

The attitude control system of a flapping-wing flying robot plays an important role in the precise orientation and tracking of the robot. In this paper, the modeling of a bird-like micro flapping-wing system is introduced, and the design of a sliding mode controller based on an Extended State Observer (ESO) is described. The main design difficulties are the control law and the adaptive law for the

The aerodynamic noise generated by the centrifugal fan used in the air conditioner is related to the comfort of human living and working, which can be controlled by using the bionic design and optimization of key components of centrifugal fan. Inspired by the non-smooth leading edge of long-eared owl wing, eight kinds of volute tongues are proposed to reduce the aerodynamic noise of a centrifugal fan

To improve the controllability for the evaporation process of fuel spray impinging on the cylinder wall, an experimental study on the development of morphological process of different fuel droplets on aluminium alloy surfaces is carried out. The metal surfaces with different wettability are prepared by laser etching and chemical etching for the experiments. In total, three different fuels are tested

Evaporation of multicomponent droplets has gained much attention nowadays because of their complex flow fields and various deposition patterns. Here we observe strong flows in evaporating sodium chloride saline droplets with suspended alumina oxide nanoparticles. The evolution of flow pattern was studied by tracking the trajectories of particles and the velocity field was investigated with Particle

Most commercial spine analogues are not intended for biomechanical testing, and those developed for this purpose are expensive and yet still fail to replicate the mechanical performance of biological specimens. Patient-specific analogues that address these limitations and avoid the ethical restrictions surrounding the use of human cadavers are therefore required. We present a method for the production

Although the toughening of Calcium phosphate (CaP) scaffold by the addition of fiber has been well recognized, integrated mechanical, structural and functional considerations have been neglected in the design and fabrication of CaP scaffold implant. The emerging 3D printing provides a promising technique to construct CaP scaffold with precise size and elaborate microstructure. However, the most challenge

Most commercially available spine analogues are not intended for biomechanical testing, and the few that are suitable for using in conjunction with implants and devices to allow a hands-on practice on operative procedures are very expensive and still none of these offers patient-specific analogues that can be accessed within reasonable time and price range. Man-made spine analogues would also avoid

The Leading-Edge (LE) serrations on owls’ wings are known to be responsible for silent flight. However, this design has rarely been applied to reduce the noise of rotational rotor propellers and the morphologies of the existing serration designs are diverse. Here, we present a comparative study of LE serrations with different morphologies in terms of the effectiveness in suppressing noise and promoting

Applying hot-embossing technology, a simple and cost-effective method for the fabrication of microstructured High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) surfaces with a robust superhydrophobic wetting state is proposed. Micro-meshes and micro-grooves in the flexible template are filled by the PE melt in the hot embossing process. Subsequently, a two-stage microstructure on the PE film surface is formed. This

This paper simulates the cuckoo incubation process and flight path to optimize the Wavelet Neural Network (WNN) model, and proposes a parking prediction algorithm based on WNN and improved Cuckoo Search (CS) algorithm. First, the initialization parameters are provided to optimize the WNN using the improved CS. The traditional CS algorithm adopts the strategy of overall update and evaluation, but does

Wet adhesion is widely adopted in biological adhesion systems in nature, and it is beneficial to design new materials with desired properties based on the underlying physics of wet adhesion. The aim of this work is to develop a design criterion to regulate the wet adhesion. The effects of different contact shapes (flat and sphere) and morphologies of the substrate (smooth, microstructure and nanostructure)

The effects of hybrid porous-serrated trailing edge on flow structure and sound source of NACA65(12)-10 at moderate Reynolds number (Rec = 5 × 105) have been investigated by Delayed Detached Eddy Simulation (DDES). Compared with conventional serrated trailing edge, the pressure fluctuation in the vicinity of hybrid porous-serrated trailing edge is further decreased significantly. The typical necklace

Scientists have long looked to nature and biology in order to understand and model solutions for complex real-world problems. The study of bionics bridges the functions, biological structures and functions and organizational principles found in nature with our modern technologies, numerous mathematical and metaheuristic algorithms have been developed along with the knowledge transferring process from