Beetle Bioinspiration

Hi readers! We are back in action again after one week break. How are you? Fine? Good. Then sit tight because we are going to make your weekend 'better' with our new content. Today we are going to talk about the concepts and applications created by researchers who got the inspirations from the beetles. This is going to be another long post, but worry not because we included lots of pictures and videos for your entertainment. Happy reading~ :D

A bioinspired tool or product refers to one that is based on biological structures or processes. Engineers and researchers analyse and improve the modelling and simulation of the biological system to attain a better understanding of a certain structural feature for future use in bioinspired design. Therefore, we should get to know and study different features of Greg and Lisa in order to get this bioinspiration. As biomimetics and bioinspiration are growing and flourishing fields of study, many researchers have studied various biological systems in order to relate them with engineering applications. 

Underwater Robots

One of the inspirations is six-legged underwater robot. It is inspired by diving beetles. Here’s a picture of the diving beetle’s graceful entry into the water.

Predacious Diving Beetle (Cybister fimbriolatus)

Another example is inspired by the Whirligig beetles (Coleoptera, Gyrinidae). This beetle has the ability to crawl on land, fly through the air, and swim in water. This species has one of the highest measured propulsive efficiency to manoeuvre in all three environment. The energy-efficient propulsion mechanisms can be applied to swimming vehicles and robots. The beetle has 3 pairs of legs with the hind legs to generate large angular velocity, while the middle legs are to steer the beetle and maintain stable trajectories.

Here’s a video showing diving beetles swimming in a tank,

By referring to the design of nature, researchers managed to design robot similar to the structure of legged underwater robot ‘Crabster’.

(Image source:
 http://edition.cnn.com/2014/04/01/tech/innovation/giant-six-legged-robot-crab/)

Legged underwater robots have the capability to walk and swim. One of the legs is designed based on the structural of diving beetle for swimming efficiency. Swimming pattern generator (SPG) is used to produce biomimetic motions of the leg.

To know more about the details of bio-inspired swimming/ diving robot, feel free to check out the ‘Experimental Studies and Dynamics Modeling Analysis of the Swimming and Diving of Whirligig Beetle; by Xu X.H., and his fellow researchers. Here, Mingjun Zhang, an associate professor of mechanical, aerospace, and biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, and his team shared the experimental and quantitative study behind the propulsive efficiency of whirligig beetle.  Another paper on ‘Swimming Pattern Generator based on Diving Beetles for Legged Underwater Robots’ explains more on how diving beetle spur to the design of six-legged underwater robot.

Press Roller

Another inspiration is through the dung beetle (Copris ochus Motschulsky). Here’s a picture of the dung’s beetle.

A dung beetle with a ball of dung (Canthon sp., Welder Wildlife Refuge, Texas)

(Source of picture: https://6legs2many.wordpress.com/tag/scarab-beetles/)

Ever wonder how did the dung beetle manage to roll and compact dung into balls without sticking its cuticle surfaces to the dung or soil? Here’s why.

Let’s take a closer look at ventral surface of a dung beetle,

(a) Geometrically structured surface of the dung beetle Copris ochus Motschulsky (b) Stereoscopy photograph of the ridges on the ventral surface of the dung beetle. (Tong et al., 2015)

The ridges on the dung beetle surface is one of the reasons for low adhesion and friction against soil.

By applying similar concept to a press roller, the adhesion problem can be solved. Biomimetic press roller with ridge structures is developed to compact soil particles to a suitable density. This is to create appropriate soil conditions for seeds. The soil condition is important to ensure the quality of crop yields.

Here’s a picture of conventional and biomimetic press roller.

(a) Conventional roller (b) Biomimetic roller (Tong et al., 2015)

The biomimetic roller is designed in such a way that ridged geometrical structures were located evenly on circle orientation for the biomimetic roller. Two counter bores were pinched on the ridged structures. The Ratio of ridges projection area to the cylindrical roller area was 50%.

Compared to conventional press roller, biomimetic press roller has lower rolling resistance, helped conserve more moisture in soil, and reduce percentage change in plant spacing. The design of adjacent ridge structures also constrain the flow of soil better.

If you would like to know more about the design of biomimetic press roller, you might wanna check out ‘Compaction Performance of Biomimetic Press Roller to Soil’ by Tong Jin and his group of researchers.

Micro Air Vehicle

We’ve looked into designs inspired from beetles that are applicable on land and underwater. Now, how about the sky?

Yes, with the beetles’ ability to fly, it is undoubtedly that researchers from around the world will be interested to look into the design of nature and attempt to integrate into the human world.

In fact, there are actually robots which we refer to as Micro Air Vehicles (MAC). If you’ve not already know how that looks like, here’s a video of it.

OR

If you prefer to skip the video, here’s a picture for flapping MAC. But seriously, the video is cool in our opinions, you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Flapping-wing system.   (Truong, Argyoganendro and Park, 2014)

(Source of picture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udlrY-pzZmY) (National Laboratory for Biomimetics and Intelligent Microsystems Konkuk University, South Korea)

In short, MAV is a small-scale autonomous or remotely controlled vehicle that is capable to fly. MAVs are designed for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance purposes. One of the designs is inspired by the hind wings of Japanese Rhinoceros (Allomyrina Dichotoma) beetle.

Japanese Rhinoceros beetle and its flexible hind wings. 
(Ha et al., 2014)

Structural analysis carried out on beetle’s hind wings show that natural frequencies were correlated to the wing area density. Bending behaviour of the natural wing is similar to cantilever beam with lower flexural stiffness compared to designed artificial wing.

For more details, one of the published papers is the ‘Structural Characteristics of Allomyrina Dichotoma Beetle’s Hind Wings for Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle’ by Ha N.S. and his team.

Dew harvesting
Now let's move on to the other continent.

(Source of picture: 

https://umnbioinspired2012.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/stenocara.jpg)

Fogstand beetles are found around the Namib Desert in South Africa. Despite located near the coast, the Namib Desert has arid climate; generating less than 10 mm of rain every year. Coupled with sea breeze from the Atlantic Ocean and the extremely hot atmospheric temperature of the desert, fogs are often formed around the area. Those fogs became the source of water for the inhabitants in the desert.

(Source of picture:
https://nocloudinthesky.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/namib-desert-beetle-1.png)

The abdomen of Fogstand beetles shaped like a hemisphere with lots of bumps. The bumps at the abdomen are hydrophilic (attracts water), whereas the dents are hydrophobic (repels water). This configuration allows the Fogstand beetles to collect droplets of water when the fog-laden wind blows. The Fogstand beetles will tip their abdomen towards the wind direction, and as more volume of water is collected, the larger drop of water will then slide towards the beetles’ head for their consumption.

(Source of picture:
http://www.fastcodesign.com/multisite_files/codesign/B-4677-Dew-Bank.jpg?1277230756)

This unique feature of Fogstand beetles has inspired the creation of dew bank bottle. The dew bank bottle can collect up to 1 litre of water a day in a humid area. 

Forest fire detection

Melanophila beetles such as the charcoal beetles and the jewel beetles are naturally drawn to large heat source even from a few kilometres away. The reason they have such behaviour is because it is the instinct of the female beetles to lay eggs in the charred wood to protect the eggs from other predators (animals usually run away from fire).

(Image source: 
http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/archive/2198/21985101.jpg)

Researchers had found many micro-receptors at charcoal beetles’ pit organ which is highly sensitive to infrared (IR). There are water inside the cavity of each receptors. As the receptors are exposed to IR, the water expands and creates internal pressures which allow the beetles to track the location of heat from far away.

Until today, researchers are investigating the method to replicate the sensitivity of the beetles’ receptor to detect forest fire.

Spray system 

Hold your fire! We are about to explore one of the more dangerous species of beetle. Why is this species dangerous? Because they are armed! 

(Source of picture:
http://www.apologeticspress.org/image/docsdis/dc-03-08a.jpg)

Bombardier beetles strike their target by spraying boiling poisonous chemical on it with great power, speed and accuracy. Scientists had studied the beetles thoroughly to understand the mechanism of their offense ability. The bombardier beetles produce hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide inside their abdomen, which is the collected in a combustion chamber. A muscle-controlled valve is used to release the chemical into the atmosphere.

(Source of picture:

http://biol2205mattsbombardierbeetles.weebly.com/physiology.html)

The chemical reaction generated by the beetles is high in pressure and temperature; brutal enough to kill the smaller insects. This gives inspirations to researchers in inventing spray system on various applications, mainly on engine system and fuel injection mechanism in automobile, aviation and many other field. 

VW's dung beetle

The vehicle named 'Bio-Bug' relies on bio-gas to operate. The inspiration was from the dung beetles' behaviour whereby they break down waste (other animals' dung) and convert them into source of energy. 

This VW beetle can run up to 10,000 miles (16093.44 km) by using excrements flushed down from toilets of 70 homes. After years of research on the technology of bio-conversion, the Bio-Bug is introduced in 2010 as the first Britain's car that runs on methane gas without losing any significant performance compared to conventional cars. 

(Source of picture:http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2010/08/05/article-13005460AB15914000005DC-710_634x421.jpg)

The Bio-Bug has 2 litres of fuel tank with a convertible engine that can switch between conventional fuel and compressed methane gas. The vehicle can achieve a top speed of 114 mph (183.46 kmh). When the temperature of the engine rises to a set level, the engine will switch into the use of methane gas automatically.

(Source of picture: http://geneco.uk.com/Biobug/biobug.aspx)

The production of methane gas that fuel the Bio-Bug is depicted in the figure above. Food and sewage waste are collected from houses, and it is then processed through anaerobic digestion to produce biogas. A small part of the biogas is used as heat for the anaerobic process earlier where the rest of the biogas is used as fuel for other applications. The biogas can be used to generate electricity back to the households and also to fuel the Bio-Bug car. To improve the performance of the car, the biogas has to be treated first; removing the carbon dioxide content before it is used.

If you are keen to support sustainable solutions, GENeco is one of the companies that is currently committed to offer innovative and cost effective sustainable renewable energy and waste recycling services. This is also the company who launched the Bio-Bug! Find out more about Bio-Bug by clicking here. 

That's all for today folks. As usual, we thank you sincerely for taking your time to read. We hope that you enjoy them very much. Next week we are heading towards a different approach for our blog post. We are going to propose a suitable industry application based on what we had learned about the beetles during the past few weeks. If you are interested in hearing us out, be sure to stay tuned! 

Goodbye and have a nice day! 

References

Daily Mail Reporter 2010, 'VW's 'Dung' Beetle: The Car That Leaves Nothing To Waste... Thanks To Its Methane Gas-Powered Engine', Mail Online 7 August. Available from <http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1300546/Dung-Beetle-The-methane-gas-powered-car-leaves-waste.html>. [9 May 2015].

Ha, N., Truong, Q., Phan, H., Goo, N. and Park, H. (2014). Structural Characteristics of Allomyrina Dichotoma Beetle's Hind Wings for Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicle. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 11(2), pp.226-235.

Hee-Joong, K. and Jihong, L. (2014). Swimming Pattern Generator Based on Diving Beetles for Legged Underwater Robots. IJMMM, 2(2), pp.101-106.

Tong, J., Zhang, Q., Guo, L., Chang, Y., Guo, Y., Zhu, F., Chen, D. and Liu, X. (2015). Compaction Performance of Biomimetic Press Roller to Soil. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 12(1), pp.152-159.

Truong, Q., Argyoganendro, B. and Park, H. (2014). Design and Demonstration of Insect Mimicking Foldable Artificial Wing Using Four-Bar Linkage Systems. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 11(3), pp.449-458.