A chameleon’s ‘ballistic tongue’ may inspire blood clot-clearing robots

[taiwan_girl]

https://www.popsci.com/environment/chameleon-tongue-biology-robot/

both a chameleon and salamander use this “ballistic tongue” like a slingshot. After spotting their prey and taking aim, the animals squeeze musculature inside their mouths to propel a tapered skeletal rod inside their tongues. Each species is capable of projecting their tongues as fast as 16 feet per second.

“This design decouples muscle action from skeletal movement,” the authors explained in their study, adding that the 30-fold range in body size represents “some of the most efficient energy transfer in vertebrate movements.”

The researchers believe this shared biological mechanism can provide a scalable blueprint using soft or flexible materials across a range of applications.

“Nature has already solved these problems, now we’re learning how to adapt those solutions for us,” said Deban.

Deban and Zeng say they are already having discussions with engineers about biomedical applications, including tiny devices armed with artificial ballistic tongues that clear blood clots. The same underlying principles could theoretically work for retrieving inaccessible targets in a disaster zone, or possibly even snatching the ever-growing blanket of space junk orbiting above Earth.

Link to video

Link to video

[Mik]

Interesting. I wonder how they can use such velocity in delicate blood vessels without risk of rupture.