Joel Kontinen
Research published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences say that humans have tried to get an underwater robot to walk like sea slug’s swimming stroke.
Nature research reported that
"Researchers led by Metin Sitti at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems in Stuttgart, Germany, sought to make soft robots that can move underwater. Inspired by the fluid motion of sea slugs, the scientists chose bending as the basis for their robot’s movements. They turned to liquid crystals as a basic material and light as a power source.
Sitti’s team introduced a plasticizer to a common type of liquid crystal, transforming it from a stiff substance into a flexible, soft gel. On illumination, long molecules that were lined up in loose rows within the gel splayed apart, forcing the gel to bend.
One robot walked some 65 millimetres on an underwater track in 108 seconds. Another propelled itself while bearing a thin frame roughly its own size."
Here their take on biomimetics or biomimicry.
Biomimicry is a science that brings out that what God has designed. And what he did, He did very well.
Source:
Soft robot takes cues from a sea slug’s swimming stroke. Nature. 2 March.
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