EUROPE: A group of Korean and U.S. researchers were able to perfectly mimic the moves of water strider to create a robotic bug that can not only walk on but also leap from water’s surface.
Although water walking may seem usual, researchers explained that it is quite a common phenomenon in some animals’ world. For instance, a creature that is small enough can make water’s surface tension work at its advantage and help it move around.
But jumping around on water is not that usual. Only a species of insects can achieve that by creating enough upward thrust to propel themselves ahead while walking on water. So, Seoul National University in South Korea (SNU) and Harvard scholars closely watched the moves of those creatures and issued a plan to simulate them in laboratory conditions.
A paper on the study, which was published Friday in the journal Science, even provides deeper insights into the physiological mechanism that allows water striders to perform their famous jumps.
Kyu-Jin Cho, senior researcher involved in the study and other projects led by the SNU’s Biorobotics Laboratory and Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, explained that the tiny insects must reach a perfect balance between speed and force of thrust in order not to break water’s surface tension and start to sink.
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