Hysteresis Of Soft Joints Embedded With Fluid-Filled Micro-Channels

Main Category: Veterinary
Also Included In: Biology / Biochemistry
Article Date: 10 Jul 2008 - 4:00 PDT

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Arthropods like cockroaches, locusts, grasshoppers and many others do not have an elaborate nervous system e.g. the reflex action, unlike us, the mammalians; yet, they achieve significant dynamic stability during rapid locomotion on rough terrains.

Similarly, many flying insects too stabilize their flight against turbulent wind and fluctuations during flight transition from hovering to flapping modes. In order to absorb these perturbations including sudden sparks, these insects must employ passive mechanisms at their moving limbs including joints.

Experiments on model elastic joints show here that the origin of this dynamic stability is possibly a classical elastic instability of thin plates, namely the Euler's buckling instability.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface

Journal of the Royal Society Interface is the Society's cross-disciplinary publication promoting research at the interface between the physical and life sciences. It offers rapidity, visibility and high-quality peer review and is ranked fifth in JCR's multidisciplinary category.

Journal of the Royal Society Interface