MAROKO133 Hot ai: Stingray-inspired fins boost underwater robot agility and prevent seabed

📌 MAROKO133 Update ai: Stingray-inspired fins boost underwater robot agility and p

Using robotic fins, researchers at the University of California, Riverside, have learned how stingrays swim with impressive control.

These insights could help underwater vehicles avoid disastrous ground collisions.

In the wild, rays fall into two broad camps: pelagic, like manta rays, soaring far above the ocean floor, and benthic, like stingrays, hugging the seabed. Their swimming styles reflect their habitats.

Pelagic rays flap their fins in a smooth, bird-like motion. Benthic rays undulate with the motion of the waves.

Yuanhang Zhu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UCR, suspected these distinctions weren’t just aesthetic.

He and his colleagues believed the variations were tied to swimming stability and, by extension, survival.

To explore this, Zhu and collaborators built a robotic fin that mimics ray movement.

They tested it in a large water tunnel that simulates ocean flow, measuring how different swimming motions affect lift, the force that either helps the fish stay level or pulls it toward the seafloor.

Unsteady ground effect observed

What they found surprised them. Near the seafloor, rays experienced negative lift, meaning they were pulled downward.

This effect is the opposite of what birds experience when flying steadily near the ground. Researchers describe it as an “unsteady ground effect.”

Birds and airplanes hold their wings steady and benefit from a cushion of air beneath them. Rays, in contrast, constantly move their fins, which changes the physics.

“There are many reasons that rays might swim differently near the seabed that are unrelated to lift and thrust, so we weren’t sure whether we’d measure any differences between the swimming styles,” said Daniel Quinn, paper co-author and associate professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Virginia. ‘But the results were striking.”

“This wasn’t what we expected,” Zhu said.

“Instead of gaining extra lift near the ground, the rays were pulled downward. But nature seems to have already solved the problem.”

Indeed, real rays swim with a slight upward tilt. When the researchers adjusted the robot’s fin angle by just a few degrees, the negative lift disappeared. “It’s a small change with a big effect,” Zhu said.

The team also discovered that rays using undulatory, wave-like swimming had better ground clearance than those with purely oscillatory, flapping motions.

In simulations, robotic swimmers with undulatory fins stayed level longer, while oscillatory swimmers crashed into the ground faster.

Bio-inspired robots ahead

These findings suggest that rays’ differing swimming styles are evolutionary strategies to maintain stability in their environments.

Zhu envisions robots that can toggle between swimming styles. A robot could glide like a manta ray in open water, then switch to stingray undulations near the seafloor.

Mirroring stingrays’ ability to stay level at low altitudes could help underwater vehicles avoid catastrophic collisions.

Impacts can disable sensors, snap fins, or stir sediment that blinds cameras. In underwater missions where stealth matters, staying just inches off the floor can determine success or failure.

“The results from this project help us think about why benthic rays may swim differently, and may also guide the design of ray-inspired robots that could be used to, say, map the ocean floor,” Quinn said.

Zhu collaborated with researchers from Lehigh University and Iowa State University. The project was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research.

“Usually, human-made robots cannot both swim in the middle of the ocean, and maneuver easily near the ground,” Zhu said. “But, by watching how rays adjust between undulation and oscillation, we understand now how it is possible.”

The study is published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: Europe plans first space-based cancer lab to study tumor

Europe is preparing to take cancer research beyond Earth.

At Frontiers Science House in Davos, SPARK Microgravity GmbH revealed plans to build Europe’s first dedicated commercial orbital cancer laboratory.

The facility will operate in low Earth orbit and focus on experiments that gravity-bound labs cannot perform.

The company says the lab will shorten the timeline between discovery and therapy by unlocking new biological insights.

The announcement came during a public session titled “Curing cancer in space”.

Zero gravity, maximum innovation

The discussion explored how microgravity could change how scientists study disease.

SPARK Microgravity executives outlined how space-based research could expose biological signals that remain hidden on Earth.

Gravity affects how cells grow, settle, and interact.

On Earth, researchers must work around these forces. In orbit, those constraints disappear.

SPARK Microgravity plans to use this environment to study complex cancer behaviors.

The orbital lab will support three-dimensional tumor growth experiments.

These models better resemble how cancers behave inside the human body.

Scientists can also study cell signaling without distortion from gravity-driven sedimentation.

Allison Bajet, CEO and co-founder of SPARK Microgravity, used an audio analogy to explain the difference between Earth and space experiments.

“Simulated microgravity is like trying to listen to a symphony inside a construction zone. The construction noise being the gravity, buoyancy, and sedimentation, creates distortions that make it hard to hear the music. Going to space to experience real microgravity is like stepping into a soundproof room. Suddenly, you can hear every note of the biology clearly.”

Researchers believe this clarity could reveal new drug targets. It may also explain why some treatments succeed in theory but fail in practice.

Building an orbital lab

SPARK Microgravity is not working alone. The company is partnering with Axiom Space and Voyager

Technologies on commercial low Earth orbit platforms. These partnerships will provide infrastructure for research operations.

ATMOS Space Cargo will support future return missions. These missions will bring biological samples back to Earth for analysis.

SPARK says reliable return capability remains essential for clinical translation.

The company has scheduled an early flight demonstration for May.

The mission will fly with support from the Swedish Space Corporation.

This flight will test systems designed for future cancer experiments.

SPARK Microgravity also plans to launch cancer research with HyPrSpace.

The French startup developed Baguette-One, a launch vehicle set to become the first rocket launched from France.

The partnership ties European launch capability to biomedical research.

Frontiers Science House hosted the announcement as part of its Davos program.

The venue aims to bring scientific research into global decision-making spaces.

The Davos setting placed the cancer lab announcement in front of policymakers, investors, and industry leaders.

Organizers say this environment helps accelerate science-driven solutions.

SPARK Microgravity sees the orbital lab as a step toward making space research routine, not experimental.

The company believes microgravity research will become a standard tool in future drug development.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com