Health & Medicine
Robotics: Navigate Surgery With Seahorse's Skeletal Tail
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jul 03, 2015 07:08 PM EDT
Thank our small marine, fishy-friend the seahorse for giving scientists a lesson in how to better navigate surgery based on its unusual skeletal structure.
Researchers at Clemson University in collaboration with U.C. San Diego, Ghent University, and Oregon State University, believe that learning more about this sea creature's tail could help health officials gain a better grip when climbing as the end of this animal's body is made up of square segments, as opposed to cylindrical compartments found in most others.
"We found that this square architecture provides adequate dexterity and a tough resistance to predators, but also that it tends to snap naturally back into place once it's been twisted and deformed," said Ross Hatton, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University, and a co-author on the study, in a news release. "This could be very useful for robotics applications that need to be strong, but also energy-efficient and able to bend and twist in tight spaces."
During the study, the researchers printed out a 3D model of the seahorse's tail, twisting and compressing the model. Findings revealed that the square plates stopped the tail from crushing too far. As the seahorse's tail is extremely resilient and able to absorb impact and resist fracture, researchers believe that its unorthodox structure may be a useful robotic technique for complicated surgeries.
"Human engineers tend to build things that are stiff so they can be controlled easily," added Hatton. "But nature makes things just strong enough not to break, and then flexible enough to do a wide range of tasks. That's why we can learn a lot from animals that will inspire the next generations of robotics."
"Understanding the role of mechanics in these biologically inspired designs may help engineers to develop seahorse-inspired technologies for a wide variety of applications in robotics, defense systems or biomedicine," the study concluded.
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Science.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
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First Posted: Jul 03, 2015 07:08 PM EDT
Thank our small marine, fishy-friend the seahorse for giving scientists a lesson in how to better navigate surgery based on its unusual skeletal structure.
Researchers at Clemson University in collaboration with U.C. San Diego, Ghent University, and Oregon State University, believe that learning more about this sea creature's tail could help health officials gain a better grip when climbing as the end of this animal's body is made up of square segments, as opposed to cylindrical compartments found in most others.
"We found that this square architecture provides adequate dexterity and a tough resistance to predators, but also that it tends to snap naturally back into place once it's been twisted and deformed," said Ross Hatton, an assistant professor in the College of Engineering at Oregon State University, and a co-author on the study, in a news release. "This could be very useful for robotics applications that need to be strong, but also energy-efficient and able to bend and twist in tight spaces."
During the study, the researchers printed out a 3D model of the seahorse's tail, twisting and compressing the model. Findings revealed that the square plates stopped the tail from crushing too far. As the seahorse's tail is extremely resilient and able to absorb impact and resist fracture, researchers believe that its unorthodox structure may be a useful robotic technique for complicated surgeries.
"Human engineers tend to build things that are stiff so they can be controlled easily," added Hatton. "But nature makes things just strong enough not to break, and then flexible enough to do a wide range of tasks. That's why we can learn a lot from animals that will inspire the next generations of robotics."
"Understanding the role of mechanics in these biologically inspired designs may help engineers to develop seahorse-inspired technologies for a wide variety of applications in robotics, defense systems or biomedicine," the study concluded.
More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Science.
For more great science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone