This is not the first time that scientists have looked at Mantis shrimp as an inspiration for robotics. In 2021We inform about a Harvard researcher who developed a Biomechanical model For the powerful Appendix of Mantis Shrimp and built a small robot to imitate that movement. The unusual thing in the mantis shrimp is that there is a delay of a millisecond among when the unfortunateness and broken action occurs.
The Harvard team identified four different surprising phases and confirmed that it is the geometry of the mechanism that produces rapid acceleration after the initial disapprove of the scleritos. The short delay can help reduce the wear of hooking mechanisms on repeated use.
New types of movement
The principle of operation of the Hyperelastic torque investment mechanism (HETRM) implies compressing an elastomeric joint until it reaches a critical point, where stored energy is instantly released.
Credit: Science Robotics, 2025
The Kyu-Jin Cho co-author of the National University of Seoul became interested in soft robotics as a graduate student, when he participated in the Robosoft Grand Challenge. Part of his research involved testing the force of the so -called “soft robotic manipulators”, a guy that is often used in assembly lines to weld or paint, for example. He realized some involuntary deformations in the form under the applied force and realized that the underlying mechanism was similar to the way in which the mantis shrimp beat or how fleas manage to jump so high and far away with their size .
In fact, Cho team Previously built a Puffer -inspired catapult mechanism For miniature jump robots, using the hyperelastic torque investment mechanism (HETRM) its laboratory was developed. Exploitation torque reversal generally implies the incorporation of complicated mechanical components. However, “I realized that apply [these] The principles of soft robotics could allow the creation of new types of movement without complex mechanisms “, Cho said.
It is now based on that work to incorporate the hectm into a soft robotic arm that is based on the properties of the material instead of structural design. It is basically a soft beam with alternative hyperetela and rigid segments.
“Our robot is made of soft and elastic materials, such as rubber,” Cho said. “Inside, it has a special part that stores energy and releases it at once, Bam! To make the robot move super fast. It works a bit like a folded tree branch quickly back down or how a flea jumps very far .