Bionic Research On The Jumping Insect Leafhopper Cicadella Viridis

This dissertation presents the biomechanics and bio-sensing research on the jumping insect Leafhopper Cicadella Viridis. Firstly, the whole jumping acceleration movement is studied by means of high-speed camera recording and the data analysis based on each frames in order to obtain the feature parameters of insect jumping motion, which underlying the biomechanics research later. After that, a theoretical model of the insect jumping is built based on the principle of bionic similarity. The theoretical study is aimed to find the intrinsic law of insect catapult jumping mechanism, and give explanation of the evolution pressure, which is in fact the motive power of such an optimization process for animals. According to the results of biological observation and theoretical study, a novel design of the bionic artificial saltatorial leg is then introduced. Based on the design, several jumping robot prototypes are then developed and tested by means of multi-body dynamic simulation and the high-speed camera experiment. From the comparison among the biological observation, dynamic simulation and robot jumping recording, the bionic similarity between the jumping insect and jumping robot prototype is obtained, proving the feasibility and jumping dynamic optimization result of such a jumping robot design. Considering the controlling requirements of the jumping robot in its practical applications in the future, the bio-sensing research based on the insect cilia sensing mechanism is also carried out in order to fabricate artificial receptors with higher sensitivity and better applicability for mini/micro robots. Not like existing approaches on fiber fabrication, the thermo-direct fiber drawing technique allows fabricating of aligned piezoelectric fibers on specific locations with simply processing. It is then studied by theoretical analysis and experimental calibration purposing to predict and control the produced fiber size by quantitative description of the drawing process. At last, an artificial receptor based on aligned PVDF fibers is presented and the validation experiments show that the artificial hair receptor has a reliable response with better sensibility to external disturbance compared with regular membrane structure.The main contents of this dissertation are briefly stated as followings:1. Biological observation experiments on the jumping insect Leafhopper Cicadella Viridis. By means of high speed camera recording, the kinematic and dynamic characteristics of insect saltatorial legs and body movement during jumping acceleration are obtained. The feature parameters of insect jumping motion are going to underlie the biomechanics research later.2. Theoretical research on jumping motion. Based on the catapult jumping mechanism of leafhopper, a theoretical jumping model is then built to describe the whole jumping dynamics. By analyzing different saltatorial leg structure and comparing with the evolved structure, the intrinsic mechanism of insect catapult jumping is revealed, as well as the optimization principle of artificial saltatorial leg design.3. Bionic jumping robot design. Jumping locomotion provides mini/micro robot low energy consumption, better environmental conservation and applicability. Therefore, to take advantage of the natural optimization driven by evolution in animals, bionic jumping robot prototypes are then developed based on the results of theoretical research and biological observation mentioned above, including the optimization of artificial saltatorial legs, the actuation and transmission design, the improvement of jumping stability, etc.4. Bio-sensing research of the jumping insects. Considering the controlling requirements of the jumping robot in its practical applications, bio-sensing research based on the insect cilia sensing mechanism is also carried out in order to fabricate artificial receptors with higher sensitivity and better applicability for mini/micro robots. A novel fabrication method for producing suspended micro/nano polymeric fibers with piezoelectric property between specific positions as the sensitive element of biomimetic sensors is presented and studied by theoretical analysis, CFD simulation and experimental calibration. At last, an artificial receptor based on aligned PVDF fibers is fabricated and the validation experiments show that the artificial hair receptor has a reliable response with better sensibility to external disturbance compared with regular membrane structure.