There are numerous examples in nature where ‘active touch’ plays a primary role in how an animal finds its way around and how it behaves. Inspired by the Etruscan shrew, one of the world’s tiniest mammals, researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) developed Shrewbot – the newest generation of a robots that use sophisticated ... »

Among other news and articles we post in the bionics category, one of the most interesting subjects we cover there is biomimicry – imitating nature in man-made systems. Although it can be outperformed, nature still does provide inspiration for more efficient and environmentally friendly technologies. Bionics is becoming more increasingly used in design, materials science ... »

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have applied biomimicry of insect cuticle – tough but flexible, non-mineral outer coverings that provide protection – to develop a similar material they named Shrilk. The new material is able to mimic the exceptional strength, toughness, and versatility of the extraordinary material, while ... »

Eucalyptus macocarpa, which is also known as The Rose of the West or Mottlecah, is a mallee Eucalyptus that is native to the south-west of Western Australia and noted for its large, spectacular flowers. Murdoch University researchers have discovered that it has unique self-cleaning and water-repellent properties which could be used in new nanotechnology applications. ... »

Drawing inspiration from the gecko, researchers from the Simon Fraser University (SFU) have been able to create adhesives that carefully mimic the toe pads of the lizard that give it the amazing ability to climb smooth vertical surfaces. They used those adhesives on belts used by Timeless Belt Climbing Platform (TBCP-II) – a tank-like robot ... »

Remaining stable while going over obstacles is fairly tricky for small robots, so the researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, fixed a small robot dubbed DASH (Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod) with lateral and tail wings borrowed from a store-bought toy to see if that would help. Although the wings haven’t enabled the robot to ... »

Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology (Empa) researchers have been inspired by climbing plants to develop a polymer foam surface coating with a closed cell construction capable to reduce the pressure loss after the membrane is damaged. Aside making future inflatable structures more resistant, the technology could provide them with a longer operational ... »