by Max Maxfield
I’m a big fan of having hobby projects. In addition to taking one’s mind off the toils, troubles, and tribulations of the world, I think that having a new “thing” that you want to do is the best way to set about learning how to do it.
Take adding a new programming language to your repertoire as an example. One way to do this is to wade through the language reference manual (yawn). Another approach is to come up with some algorithm or task you wish to code in this new language, and then research how to achieve this goal. Of course, I’m not saying that reading the language reference manual is a bad idea, just that it’s not the only instrument in the toolbox.
A 40-Triangle Interactive Geodesic Dome hackster.io - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from hackster.io Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Arduino multiples | Model Engineer model-engineer.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from model-engineer.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Science for just $15 USD.
Abstract
The biomechanics underlying the predatory strike of dragonfly larvae is not yet understood. Dragonfly larvae are aquatic ambush predators, capturing their prey with a strongly modified extensible mouthpart. The current theory of hydraulic pressure being the driving force of the predatory strike can be refuted by our manipulation experiments and reinterpretation of former studies. Here, we report evidence for an independently loaded synchronized dual-catapult system. To power the ballistic movement of a single specialized mouthpart, two independently loaded springs simultaneously release and actuate two separate joints in a kinematic chain. Energy for the movement is stored by straining an elastic structure at each joint and, possibly, the surrounding cuticle, which is preloaded by muscle contraction. As a proof of concept, we developed a bioinspired robotic model resembling the morphology and functional principle of the extensible mouthpart. Under