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Origami-inspired underwater trap helps study delicate marine creatures
Why it is in news?
- The device was tested in the open ocean at a depth of 1,600 to 2,300 ft. - Studying soft-bodied deep sea creatures like jellyfish and squid have been a difficult task for marine biologists as existing underwater tools cause damage or even kill them.
- Now, researchers from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute have developed an origami-inspired sampler using folding polyhedral sides that can trap deep sea soft creatures without causing them any harm. The research was recently published in Science Robotics.
What is Origami?
- Origami, the Japanese art of folding, is used as an inspiration to help us build 3D objects from 2D sheets.
- Scientists developed a way to fold 3D shapes from its 2D net using only one actuator [component responsible for movement].
Functioning
- Minimizing the number of actuators is key because incorporating actuators is a relatively more complex engineering task and you have to figure out ways of attaching, powering, sensing and coordinating the folds.
- Therefore even though the system of linkages looks more complex, it consists entirely of revolute joints which are mechanically much simpler.
- The device — named Rotary Actuated Dodecahedron (RAD) — can be attached to any remotely operated vehicle (ROV).
- The pilot of the ROV uses cameras to position the sampler near a sea creature of interest and then tells the operator of the sampler to close the sampler, entrapping the creature.
- The device was tested in the open ocean at a depth of 1,600 to 2,300 ft and the researchers say that it can be modified to withstand higher pressures at increasing depths.
- These deep-sea organisms, some being thousands of years old, deserve to be treated with a similar gentleness.
Source
The Hindu