biomechanics tagged posts

A Flapping Microrobot inspired by the Wing Dynamics of Rhinoceros Beetles

A flapping microrobot inspired by the wing dynamics of rhinoceros beetles

The wing dynamics of flying animal species have been the inspiration for numerous flying robotic systems. While birds and bats typically flap their wings using the force produced by their pectoral and wing muscles, the processes underlying the wing movements of many insects remain poorly understood.

Researchers at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland) and Konkuk University (South Korea) recently set out to explore how herbivorous insects known as rhinoceros beetles deploy and retract their wings. The insight they gathered, outlined in a paper published in Nature, was then used to develop a new flapping microrobot that can passively deploy and retract its wings, without the need for extensive actuators.

“Insects, including beetles, are theoretically belie...

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Synthetic Scaffolds to Heal Injured Tendons and Ligaments

The research hopes to improve the outcomes of sport injury surgeries. Credit: Pixabay

The research hopes to improve the outcomes of sport injury surgeries. Credit: Pixabay

Top biomedical engineering researcher develops synthetic scaffolds for tendon and ligament regeneration. Australia’s love of sport means it has one of the highest rates of knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and reconstruction in the world.

Worldwide, the costs of tendon and ligament rupture repair and surgery revision represent tens of billions of dollars of the clinical orthopaedic market.

A team of biomedical engineering researchers from the University of Sydney, working with Columbia University’s Regenerative Engineering Laboratory and FAU Erlangen-Nurnberg Institute of Medical Biotechnology (Germany), are hoping to improve the outcomes of tendon and ligament repair by developing a new synthe...

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