The evolution of insects was successful at the latest 400 million years ago. Up to 20 19, there are about 925,000 recorded insect species in the world. Insects are the most diverse animals in the evolutionary history of life. They are found on all continents except Antarctica. Their total weight exceeds the sum of all other animals (including humans). They are the overlord of this land and have the ability to change the face of the earth. Such a prosperous biological group will certainly become a teacher of human beings, and human beings are also keeping up with the pace of insect evolution, constantly improving their own technology and producing new inventions.
Sensory bionics of insects
Compound eye is the most important visual organ of insects. It is made up of many small eyes. Small eyes are hexagonal, and the edges overlap to form a hexagonal array. The field of vision of each small eye is very small, but the field of vision of a compound eye composed of many small eyes is very large. Some insects have a horizontal field of vision of 240 degrees and a vertical field of vision of 360 degrees, while human vision is only 180 degrees. The compound eyes of insects are very sensitive to moving objects.
For example, the response time of bees to sudden objects is 0.0 1 sec, while that of humans is 0.05 sec. In addition, the compound eye system has good ranging and velocity estimation capabilities. Because the visual system of insects can play a prominent role in the movement process, it has become an important bionic object of modern flight equipment. As early as 1980, American scientists tried to apply the principle of insect compound eye to the guidance research of air-to-surface missiles and established an engineering model. At present, people tend to use it as a robot navigation system to improve the autonomous function level of robots. Based on the principle of compound eye, a variety of speed and distance measuring instruments are applied. Not only that, people have also developed a flying eye camera that can take 1329 high-definition photos at the same time, which is widely used in military, medical and aerospace fields.
Insect antennae are olfactory organs, which also play the role of taste and hearing in many insects. Insects have many hairy receptors on their antennae. They can feel the stimulation of the environment and convert these stimuli into nerve signals and transmit them to the brain. For example, bees have 3000-30000 olfactory receptors on their antennae, while some moths have more olfactory receptors on their antennae. They can even react to the surrounding gas molecules.
For another example, male mosquitoes look for mates through the flight sound frequency of female mosquitoes. Even if they are tens of meters apart and there is thunderous noise around them, they can still find the target accurately.
This sensitivity and anti-interference ability is amazing. At present, bionics has made some achievements in this field, such as a highly sensitive gas analyzer made of a fly-like olfactory device, which has been used to analyze the gas composition in the cockpit of a spacecraft. In addition, various olfactory sensors with similar principles are also used in mine gas monitoring and fire alarm.
Bionics of insect morphological structure
Many people feel pain when they inject, but mosquitoes feel nothing when they suck blood. Studies have shown that the mouthparts of non-biting mosquitoes are very special: when they suck blood, the sharp serrated mouthparts cut the skin like delicate scalpels, and then push the needle in, opening only a small mouth. Compared with the smooth needle, the serrated edge has a smaller contact area, which reduces the stimulation to human nerves and relieves pain. Japanese scientists have developed a painless syringe to imitate the mouthparts of mosquitoes, but the syringe is easy to break and needs further improvement.
Insect feet are also interesting. It shows good adsorption and climbing ability. Some insects can resist pressure more than 0/00 times their own weight/kloc-on smooth surfaces and walk freely on these surfaces! The soles of insects are very complicated. Some are bristles (slender hairs on the surface of insects, usually tens to hundreds of microns long and several microns thick).
Some are retractable structures similar to suction cups. In addition, there is evidence that the soles of insects absorb secretions to increase viscosity. Scientists hope to enhance the movement ability of robots through this bionics. German researchers have developed a small wall-climbing robot with suction feet, which can walk on vertical walls or cross uneven surfaces.
Otter capybara is another fascinating insect because it can walk on water. China scholars once published an article in Nature magazine, pointing out that there are thousands of bristles arranged in the same direction on the surface of otters' legs. These bristles have a special structure, which can produce great surface tension, so they can walk on water. At present, the research and development of water walking robot based on bionic water walking robot has been carried out all over the world. I believe it is only a matter of time before the appearance of water walking robots.
Bionic movement of insects
There are two kinds of aircraft: fixed-wing aircraft and rotary-wing aircraft (helicopters). Although people have realized their dream of flying, the flexibility of these two aircraft is still very poor. Especially in the early fixed-wing aircraft, the wings will constantly vibrate when flying rapidly. As engineers learn from dragonflies, they add weight to both ends of their wings to solve this problem.
Birds and insects in nature fly more flexibly. They flap their wings! So people thought of a concept plane: flapping-wing plane, which can flap its wings like birds and insects. Scientists all over the world have studied the flight movement of insects and birds for many years and found some principles, but some principles are not very clear. At present, it is unrealistic to develop a large manned flapping-wing aircraft, and there is no guarantee that the fuselage will not bump up and down during the flight.
At present, the main development project is a small unmanned flapping-wing flying robot. Nevertheless, it still has more flexible and faster flying ability than other flying robots, stronger adaptability to bad weather and stronger camouflage ability. It will play an important role in surveying and mapping, reconnaissance and other fields.
Both the lunar rover and the lunar rover used for human space exploration are wheeled. But the performance of wheeled lunar rover is not good. Their wheels are sometimes stuck by rocks, and sometimes they are trapped by soft sand, which makes the monitors far away from the earth sweat and feel at a loss. At this time, some scholars are interested in insects and study their legs. Insects have six legs. Although they walk fast, they always form a stable tripod with three legs on the ground. Biologists at the University of California carefully studied every detail of insect crawling and made a robot insect.
It can not only walk on rough roads, but also keep stable even if it is knocked down, and even turn around when it overturns. This is unmatched by wheeled robots. This adaptability is more suitable for exploring on unmanned planets or the seabed. I believe they will come into play soon.
Bionics of other special abilities of insects
Many insects have their own unique skills, which are worth learning. Luminous insects such as fireflies can convert energy in the body into light energy, and the efficiency is close to 100%. This is beyond the reach of ordinary lamps at present, and the conversion rate of ordinary light bulbs is only 6%. The efficiency of the cold light source simulating the glow of fireflies is greatly improved.
Social animals like ants are busy every day. They throw away the rubbish in the nest and take the food to the nest outside. The whole Bird's Nest is like a logistics network. However, the network is not to coordinate traffic, but orderly and rarely crowded. By studying the movement of ants, scientists have established a mathematical model of "ant colony algorithm", which is used to direct traffic and logistics, greatly improving the transportation efficiency.
The cannonball bug is a strange beetle, which can spray hot and poisonous liquid at the enemy. It is found that these two dangerous chemicals are stored in different "cans" and mixed when necessary.
Once these two substances are mixed, they will react quickly under the action of enzymes-boiling and explosion. American military experts have developed a very advanced binary chemical weapon, storing chemicals in different containers. Once the shell is fired, the diaphragm will break, and within a few seconds after the missile flies out, this mixture will react and eventually kill the enemy. However, people hope that bionics can serve the interests of mankind, not the war.