Mining Smartness from the Hydraulic System of Spiders: A Bioinspired Actuator for Advanced Applications

Abstract

Most animals and insects use opposing muscles, called flexors and extensors, to articulate the joints of their limbs. However, some spiders do not have extensors in some of their joints and use, instead, a simple and efficient miniaturized hydraulic system to extend their limbs. An actuator inspired by the hydraulic system of spiders, which can be embedded on adaptive structures, is investigated in robot-like configurations in this paper. Its design and characteristics are discussed and the effects of the geometrical parameters on its performance are investigated.