Oak Grove Middle School

Concord, California

Philosophy - Goal

Syllabus

Design Teams

Animal Locomotion

Animal Experiments

Berkeley Visit

Mission to Mars

Report on Mars

Explorer Designs

Presentations

Thank You's

Links to other sites

Oak Grove Middle School Science Class

Running Design Team

The ROM Team

Running On Mars

Frances

Kris

Allison

Marc

Justin

 


Biomorphic Explorer: Cheetatron 64

A. What does your explorer do? Runs very fast, climbs and has a rolling module. It is multi-functional.
B. How does your explorer work? Cheetatron runs very fast by using a special spring bacbone. It can even run up walls very fast because it has sticky feet. When it arrives at its location it drops a module that can move by rolling like a wheel.

C. List ideas from Biology?

 

Biological Inspiration

Cheetah-like backbone for running. The cheetatron uses a special backbone like a running cheetah. The backbone is a spring. When the legs are close together the spring stores energy. The spring gives back the energy to push the legs apart. This is a very efficient design.

Gecko feet for climbing. The explorer uses the sticky feet of geckos. They have very small hairs called setae that grab on by the forces of molecules. They do not use suction or glue. This makes the explorer very maneuverable.

Rolling stomatopod module. The explorer has a module in an attached membrane. When the membrane is opened the rolling module falls out. The module rolls like a shrimp-like animal called a stomatopod. It does backward somersaults on the beaches of Panama.

 


Designing the Biomorphic Explorer
   
   
   

 


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Last updated 6/23/99