Understanding the ant's unique biting system can improve surgical needle holders

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wipfler, Benjamin; Hoepfner, Ole; Viebahn, Felix; Weihmann, Tom; Rieg, Frank; Engelmann, Carsten
• 署名单位: University of Bayreuth; University of Bayreuth; University of Rostock
• 刊物名称: PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0027-11403
• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2201598121
• 发表日期: 2024-02-27
• 关键词: head anatomy; EVOLUTION; mechanism; DESIGN

摘要

Mechanical grasping and holding devices depend upon a firm and controlled grip. The possibility to improve this gripping performance is severely limited by the need for miniaturization in many applications, such as robotics, microassembly, or surgery. In this paper, we show how this gripping can be improved in one application (the endoscopic needle holder) by understanding and imitating the design principles that evolution has selected to make the mandibles of an ant a powerful natural gripping device. State - of- the - art kinematic, morphological, and engineering approaches show that the ant, in contrast to other insects, has considerable movement within the articulation and the jaw ' s rotational axis. We derived three major evolutionary design principles from the ant's biting apparatus: 1) a mobile joint axis, 2) a tilted orientation of the mandibular axis, and 3) force transmission of the adductor muscle to the tip of the mandible. Application of these three principles to a commercially available endoscopic needle holder resulted in calculated force amplification up to 296% and an experimentally measured one up to 433%. This reduced the amount of translations and rotations of the needle, compared to the needle's original design, while retaining its size or outer shape. This study serves as just one example showing how bioengineers might find elegant solutions to their design problems by closely observing the natural world.