Journal of Bionic Engineering ›› 2023, Vol. 20 ›› Issue (2): 628-644.doi: 10.1007/s42235-022-00285-y

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The Fabrication of Gas-driven Bionic Soft Flytrap Blade and Related Feasibility Tests

Yangwei Wang1; Jie Yan1; Jian Li1; Meizhen Huang1; Zhibo Luan1   

  1. 1 College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150000, China
  • 出版日期:2023-03-10 发布日期:2023-03-10
  • 通讯作者: Jian Li E-mail:lijian499@163.com
  • 作者简介:Yangwei Wang1; Jie Yan1; Jian Li1; Meizhen Huang1; Zhibo Luan1

The Fabrication of Gas-driven Bionic Soft Flytrap Blade and Related Feasibility Tests

Yangwei Wang1; Jie Yan1; Jian Li1; Meizhen Huang1; Zhibo Luan1   

  1. 1 College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150000, China
  • Online:2023-03-10 Published:2023-03-10
  • Contact: Jian Li E-mail:lijian499@163.com
  • About author:Yangwei Wang1; Jie Yan1; Jian Li1; Meizhen Huang1; Zhibo Luan1

摘要: Unlike most animals, plants fail to move bodily at will. However, movements also occur in every single part of plants out of energy and nutrients needs, spanning from milliseconds to hours on a time scale. And with the growing understanding of plant movement in the academic community, bionic soft robots based on plant movement principles are increasingly studied and are considered by scientists as a source of inspiration for innovative engineering solutions. In this paper, through the study of the biological morphology, microstructure, and motion mechanism of the flytrap, we developed chambered design rules, and designed and fabricated a gas-driven bionic flytrap blade, intending to investigate its feasibility of performing complex bending deformation. The experimental result shows that the bionic flytrap blade can achieve multi-dimensional bending deformation, and complete the bending and closing action within 2 s. The performance of the bionic flytrap blade fabricated is in high agreement with the real flytrap blade in terms of bending and deformation, achieving an excellent bionic design effect. In this study, the chambered design rules of the bionic flytrap blade were proposed and developed, and the possibility of its deformation was investigated. The effects of different chamber types and different flow channel design precepts on the bending deformation of the bionic flytrap blade were revealed, together with the relationship between the response time and flow rate of the bionic flytrap blade. At last, this study provides new ideas for the study of plant blade motion mechanism in a hope to expand the application fields of bionic robots, especially hope to offer solutions for plant-type robotics.

关键词: Gas drive , · Bionic soft flytrap blade , · Feasibility test , · Plant bionic design

Abstract: Unlike most animals, plants fail to move bodily at will. However, movements also occur in every single part of plants out of energy and nutrients needs, spanning from milliseconds to hours on a time scale. And with the growing understanding of plant movement in the academic community, bionic soft robots based on plant movement principles are increasingly studied and are considered by scientists as a source of inspiration for innovative engineering solutions. In this paper, through the study of the biological morphology, microstructure, and motion mechanism of the flytrap, we developed chambered design rules, and designed and fabricated a gas-driven bionic flytrap blade, intending to investigate its feasibility of performing complex bending deformation. The experimental result shows that the bionic flytrap blade can achieve multi-dimensional bending deformation, and complete the bending and closing action within 2 s. The performance of the bionic flytrap blade fabricated is in high agreement with the real flytrap blade in terms of bending and deformation, achieving an excellent bionic design effect. In this study, the chambered design rules of the bionic flytrap blade were proposed and developed, and the possibility of its deformation was investigated. The effects of different chamber types and different flow channel design precepts on the bending deformation of the bionic flytrap blade were revealed, together with the relationship between the response time and flow rate of the bionic flytrap blade. At last, this study provides new ideas for the study of plant blade motion mechanism in a hope to expand the application fields of bionic robots, especially hope to offer solutions for plant-type robotics.

Key words: Gas drive , · Bionic soft flytrap blade , · Feasibility test , · Plant bionic design