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Biomimetics
Special Issues
Bioinspired Functional Structures
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Bioinspired Functional Structures

A special issue of Biomimetics (ISSN 2313-7673). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomimetics of Materials and Structures".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 September 2022) | Viewed by 13051

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jinyou Shao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Frontier Institute of Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710054, China
2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710054, China
Interests: biomimetic functional materials; flexible electronics; flexible sensors; smart structures; robotics; energy storage devices; micro/nano-fabrication
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Xiangming Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710054, China
Interests: energy storage materials and devices; flexible electronics and systems; micro/nano manufacturing technologies
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Hongmiao Tian

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Mechanical Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710054, China
Interests: bioinspired fabrication; bioinspired adhesives; artifical muscle; soft robots

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Inspired by the exceptional performance of animals and plants, devise bioinspired structures have been developed in response to the practical challenges in industry, agriculture, and daily life. The bioinspired structures are not only investigated in terms of natural geometry and size, but also in terms of natural organisms' extraordinary functions. Recently, the design and fabrication of functional structures based on natural living’s behavior have attracted much more attention. This strategy is in favor of going beyond the limitation on the conformal duplication of natural structures, and can helpfully develop novel structures that are different from the actual structures but exhibiting superior performance much better than living bodies.

This Special Issue will cover a wide ranges of studies on bioinspired functional structures, from basic research on working mechanism and design methodologies to the fabrication and application. We invite biologists, material scientists, engineers, architects, physicists, and those from other disciplines to present results of their research within the field of design and fabrication of bioinspired functional structures. We hope that this initiative will cover a critical need in biomimetic structures and will entice the enthusiastic contributions of leading experts in the field.

Prof. Dr. Jinyou Shao
Prof. Dr. Xiangming Li
Dr. Hongmiao Tian
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Biomimetics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • design and fabrication of bioinspired structures
  • functional structures or materials
  • bioinspiredmicro/nano-structures
  • bioinspired sensors
  • artificial muscles
  • functional systems
  • self-healing structures or materials
  • bioinspired flexible electronics
  • energy generator and storage

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 2207 KiB  
Article
The Design and Testing of a PEA Powered Ankle Prosthesis Driven by EHA
by Qitao Huang, Bowen Li and Hongguang Xu
Biomimetics 2022, 7(4), 234; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040234 - 12 Dec 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1671
Abstract
Several studies have shown that actuation concepts such as Serial elastic actuator (SEA) can reduce peak power and energy consumption in ankle prostheses. Proper selection and design of the actuation concepts is important to unlock the power source potential. In this work, the [...] Read more.
Several studies have shown that actuation concepts such as Serial elastic actuator (SEA) can reduce peak power and energy consumption in ankle prostheses. Proper selection and design of the actuation concepts is important to unlock the power source potential. In this work, the optimization design, mechanical design, control scheme, and bench experiments of a new powered ankle–foot prosthesis is proposed. The actuation concept of this prosthesis is parallel elastic actuator (PEA) composed of electro-hydrostatic actuator (EHA) as the power kernel and a unidirectional parallel spring as the auxiliary energy storage element. After the appropriate motor and transmission ratio was selected, a dynamic model of the PEA prosthesis was built to obtain the appropriate spring parameters driven by biological data. The design of the hydraulic and mechanical system and the controller were provided for the implementation of the designed system. Bench experiments were performed to verify the performance. The results showed that the designed prosthesis meets the biomechanical dynamics requirements. This result emphasizes the feasibility of the EHA as a power source and actuator and provides new ideas for the design of ankle–foot prostheses. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Functional Structures)
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15 pages, 3235 KiB  
Article
Kinematic Analysis of Bionic Elephant Trunk Robot Based on Flexible Series-Parallel Structure
by Qitao Huang, Peng Wang, Yuhao Wang, Xiaohua Xia and Songjing Li
Biomimetics 2022, 7(4), 228; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040228 - 05 Dec 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2307
Abstract
Researchers borrow ideas from biological characteristics and behavior in design to make bionic robots that can meet unstructured and complex operating environments. The elephant trunk has been widely imitated by bionic robots because of its strong dexterity and stiffness adjustability. Due to the [...] Read more.
Researchers borrow ideas from biological characteristics and behavior in design to make bionic robots that can meet unstructured and complex operating environments. The elephant trunk has been widely imitated by bionic robots because of its strong dexterity and stiffness adjustability. Due to the complex structure of the current elephant trunk robot, a series-parallel elephant trunk robot based on flexible rod actuation and a 6-degree-of-freedom (6-dof) parallel module is proposed in this paper. The bionic robot has a simple structure and redundant kinematics, which can realize the control of stiffness. This work focuses on the modeling of the flexible driving rod, the kinematics of a single parallel module, and the whole biomimetic robot. The kinematics are verified by simulation, which lays a foundation for future research on stiffness regulation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Functional Structures)
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13 pages, 2541 KiB  
Article
Soft Gripper with Electro-Thermally Driven Artificial Fingers Made of Tri-Layer Polymers and a Dry Adhesive Surface
by Xiangmeng Li, Qiangshengjie Shi, Huifen Wei, Xiaodong Zhao, Zhe Tong and Xijing Zhu
Biomimetics 2022, 7(4), 167; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040167 - 15 Oct 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1656
Abstract
Soft grippers have attracted great interest in the soft robotics research field. Due to their lack of deformability and control over compliance, it can be challenging for them to pick up objects that are too large or too small in size. In particular, [...] Read more.
Soft grippers have attracted great interest in the soft robotics research field. Due to their lack of deformability and control over compliance, it can be challenging for them to pick up objects that are too large or too small in size. In particular, compliant objects are vulnerable to the large grasping force. Therefore, it is crucial to be able to adjust the stiffness of the gripper materials. In this study, a soft gripper consisting of three artificial fingers is reported on. Each of the artificial fingers is made of a tri-layer polymer structure. An exterior layer, made of an ecoflex–graphene composite is embedded with electric wires as a heating source, by applying direct-current potential. The Joule heat not only allows for deformation of the exterior layer, but also transfers heat to the middle layer of the thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) elastomer. As a result, the stiffness of the TPU layer can be adjusted using electro-thermal heating. Meanwhile, the third layer consists of a polydimethylsiloxane replica as a supporting layer with a gecko-inspired dry adhesive structure. By applying voltage through electric wires, the artificial fingers can bend and, thus, the soft gripper can hold the objects, with the help of the dry adhesive layer. Finally, objects like a shuttlecock, tennis ball and a glass beaker, can be picked up by the soft gripper. This research may provide an insight for the design and fabrication of soft robotic manipulators. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Functional Structures)
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17 pages, 4970 KiB  
Article
Virtual Quartz Crystal Microbalance: Bioinspired Resonant Frequency Tracking
by Ioan Burda
Biomimetics 2022, 7(4), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040156 - 08 Oct 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1469
Abstract
The reference acoustic properties of the quartz crystal used as a resonator are ensured by its high-quality factor (Q-factor). The microbalance of the quartz crystal (QCM) exploits the bulk acoustic properties of the quartz crystal. Turning a network analyzer or impedance analyzer into [...] Read more.
The reference acoustic properties of the quartz crystal used as a resonator are ensured by its high-quality factor (Q-factor). The microbalance of the quartz crystal (QCM) exploits the bulk acoustic properties of the quartz crystal. Turning a network analyzer or impedance analyzer into a QCM with a decent measurement rate is a challenge. The use of a virtual instrument to implement an impedance analyzer (VIA) provides greater flexibility to the virtual QCM. In this paper, VIA’s flexibility is exploited for the experimental evaluation of conventional scanning procedures and the influence of associated parameters, in order to identify elements that can lead to a limitation of the performance of a virtual QCM. The results of the experimental investigation justify the use of an innovative and optimized bioinspired scanning procedure to effectively track the serial resonance frequency of the QCM sensor. Variable-resolution spatial sampling of the human retina and the ability of the eye to refocus on the area of interest is the source of bioinspiration for achieving an adaptive virtual QCM. The design methodology and physics are described in detail, and the experimental investigations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed bioinspired scanning procedure. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Functional Structures)
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18 pages, 4806 KiB  
Article
Design of the Jump Mechanism for a Biomimetic Robotic Frog
by Jizhuang Fan, Qilong Du, Zhihui Dong, Jie Zhao and Tian Xu
Biomimetics 2022, 7(4), 142; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics7040142 - 24 Sep 2022
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5174
Abstract
Frogs are vertebrate amphibians with both efficient swimming and jumping abilities due to their well-developed hind legs. They can jump over obstacles that are many or even tens of times their size on land. However, most of the current jumping mechanisms of biomimetic [...] Read more.
Frogs are vertebrate amphibians with both efficient swimming and jumping abilities due to their well-developed hind legs. They can jump over obstacles that are many or even tens of times their size on land. However, most of the current jumping mechanisms of biomimetic robotic frogs use simple four-bar linkage mechanisms, which has an unsatisfactory biomimetic effect on the appearance and movement characteristics of frogs. At the same time, multi-joint jumping robots with biomimetic characteristics are subject to high drive power requirements for jumping action. In this paper, a novel jumping mechanism of a biomimetic robotic frog is proposed. Firstly, the structural design of the forelimb and hindlimb of the frog is given, and the hindlimb of the robotic frog is optimized based on the design of a single-degree-of-freedom six-bar linkage. A simplified model is established to simulate the jumping motion. Secondly, a spring energy storage and trigger mechanism is designed, including incomplete gear, one-way bearing, torsion spring, and so on, to realize the complete jumping function of the robot, that is, elastic energy storage and regulation, elastic energy release, and rapid leg retraction. Thirdly, the experimental prototype of the biomimetic robotic frog is fabricated. Finally, the rationality and feasibility of the jumping mechanism are verified by a jumping experiment. This work provides a technical and theoretical basis for the design and development of a high-performance amphibious biomimetic robotic frog. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioinspired Functional Structures)
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