Many robots are inspired by existing animals, but not so many are inspired by extinct creatures. To design their own new machine, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University looked back more than 500 million years for guidance. their results are 68th Annual Meeting of the Biophysical Societyis an underwater soft robot modeled after one of the oldest ancestors of sea urchins.
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Pleurocystitis roamed the oceans about 500 million years ago, and experts believe that jellyfish first appeared around the same time. The pleurocystozoans, ancient precursors of invertebrates such as starfish, were characterized by muscular tail-like structures that may have improved their mobility in water. The researchers studied CT scans of fossilized animal remains, then fed the data into a computer program that analyzed it and provided locomotion simulations.
No one knows exactly how the pleurocysts moved around, but the researchers say the most logical possibility is that they move their tails wildly from side to side, making their way across the ocean floor. I decided that. This theory is also reinforced by the fossil record, which shows that animals’ tails grew longer over time, allowing them to run faster without requiring more energy expenditure. From there, engineers built their own soft robot, Pleurocystitis, that can extend its tail.
To the casual viewer, footage of a mechanical monster clumsily making its way across the ground may seem to hint at why pleurocystitis has long since disappeared. But Richard Desatnick, a Carnegie Mellon University doctoral student under the direction of Phil Leduc and Carmel Majidi in the mechanical engineering department, says this ancient animal deserves more recognition.
“There are animals that have been very successful for millions of years, and the reason they went extinct was not because they weren’t biologically successful, but there may have been large-scale environmental changes or extinctions.” Desatnick said in the paper. recent profile.
The geological record certainly supports such arguments. Furthermore, given that today’s animal world represents only 1 percent of all living things that have ever roamed, swam, or flown on Earth, there is a lot of potential biomechanical activity to explore. There is a wealth of inspiration left. Desatnick and his colleagues believe that their proof-of-concept pleurocyst fungus will lead to new research into the past of Earth’s animals, a field they call paleobionics, to guide some of the robotic creations of the future. We hope that this will help encourage participation.
The team at Carnegie Mellon University believes future versions of soft robots could provide a variety of applications, including exploring hazardous geological locations and assisting in repairing underwater machinery. More agile robopleurocystids may one day glide underwater. Without a common source of inspiration, neither would exist, even if nearby starfish or sea urchins couldn’t recognize it.
