Tyler’s Project Inspiration -> Spiders!

I am really inspired by nature, especially biomimicry! Biomimicry is to look at animals and plants for sustainable solutions to human challenges by emulating nature’s time-tested evolution and strategies. Note that most animals and plants can create a lot of energy, chemical changes, and power with very little initial input energy, harmless in most cases, and zero to negative carbon foot prints. So, I want my project to incorporate a function, form, and/or strategy of a particular animal. Since the project has to be dynamic I am avoiding plant emulation, because plants do not move.

I recently began looking at SPIDERS for inspiration! I am intrigued with how spiders move in general, because they use a very simple mechanism of biological hydraulics and muscle contracting tendons. Here is a link to a blog I wrote for another class that highlights this particular function in more detail: (Spiders and Hydraulics – Biomimicry 2016).

Overall, I would like to create a little robotic spider that can walk across a table. But, there are a few creative and aesthetic improvements I want to make, in order to make it “fun, cuddly, and cool”. Maybe add a 3-D printed shell for aesthetic flexibility, making it a bright color (since black may make it creepy looking), or LED lights to have it shine bright. I have not cemented any ideas down completely, but for this part of the brainstorming process is fun and less stressful to keep things open to design changes.

Here is a spider man meme to end this blog, and for your personal enjoyment!

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2 Comments. Leave new

  • David Holliman
    March 7, 2016 1:10 am

    This idea is really cool–you get to explore an animal aesthetic while incorporating a mechanical design inspired from nature! I’m wondering in which ways hydraulics can be applied to the project. One idea could be to place the spider on a stetchy web so that a hydraulic system could generate a perpetuating motion. Seems like there’s many directions you could go, though. Looking forward to seeing this progress…

    Reply
  • Andre Szlendak
    March 3, 2016 11:58 am

    I also really like the concept of Biomimicry and thing it gives great functional ideas. Besides walking and having similar number of legs, how will this incorporate the biomimicry design concept?

    Reply

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