Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

Activation Energy

Activation Energy

Activation energy is the minimum amount of energy necessary for a chemical reaction to move forward. The higher the activation energy, the slower the rate of the reaction. However, adding heat to the reaction will increase the rate, since it causes molecules to move faster and increase the likelihood that molecules will collide. The collision and breaking of bonds represents the uphill phase of a reaction and generates the transition state. The transition state is an unstable high-energy state...

Enzymes and Activation Energy

Enzymes and Activation Energy

The activation energy (or free energy of activation), abbreviated as Ea, is the small amount of energy input necessary for all chemical reactions to occur. During chemical reactions, certain chemical bonds break, and new ones form. For example, when a glucose molecule breaks down, bonds between the molecule's carbon atoms break. Since these are energy-storing bonds, they release energy when broken. However, the molecule must be somewhat contorted to get into a state that allows the bonds to...

Introduction to Mechanisms of Enzyme Catalysis

Introduction to Mechanisms of Enzyme Catalysis

For many years, scientists thought that enzyme-substrate binding took place in a simple "lock-and-key" fashion. This model stated that the enzyme and substrate fit together perfectly in one instantaneous step. However, current research supports a more refined view scientists call induced fit. The induced-fit model expands upon the lock-and-key model by describing a more dynamic interaction between enzyme and substrate. As the enzyme and substrate come together, their interaction causes a mild...

ATP and Macromolecule Synthesis

ATP and Macromolecule Synthesis

Biological macromolecules are organic compounds, predominantly composed of carbon atoms. The carbon atoms are covalently bonded with hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and other minor elements. There are four major biological macromolecule classes: carbohydrates, lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids.
Most macromolecules are composed of single subunits, or building blocks, called monomers. The monomers combine with each other using covalent bonds to form larger molecules known as polymers.
Conversion of...

Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors

Transducer Mechanism: Enzyme-Linked Receptors

Enzyme-linked receptors are cell-surface receptors acting as an enzyme or associating with an enzyme intracellularly. They make excellent drug targets. Drugs can bind to the extracellular ligand-binding domain or directly affect their enzymatic domain and alter their activity.
Major types that are helpful drug targets include:

iChip

iChip

The cultivation of environmental microorganisms has long been hindered by the inability to replicate complex native conditions in vitro. The isolation chip (iChip) addresses this limitation by facilitating the growth of previously uncultivable microorganisms through in situ incubation. Designed for high-throughput microbial cultivation, the iChip comprises hundreds of microchambers, each capable of housing a single microbial cell. These microchambers are loaded with a mixture of molten agar and...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Comprehensive quality evaluation of ultrasound-assisted fermented Yuluxiang pear juice: Physicochemical characteristics, antioxidant activity, and multi-dimensional flavor analysis.

Ultrasonics sonochemistry·2026

Same author

Damage Scaling Laws at Crack Tip in Disordered Materials.

Physical review letters·2026

Same author

Reconfigurable Acoustofluidic Microvortices for Selective Microcargo Delivery.

Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)·2026

Same author

Experimental realization of temporal refraction and reflection in elastic beams.

Nature communications·2025

Same author

Food-Grade Pickering Emulsions Stabilized by Ultrasound-Treated Foxtail Millet Prolamin: Characterization and <i>In Vitro</i> Release Behavior of Curcumin.

Foods (Basel, Switzerland)·2025

Same author

Enhanced Sensitivity and Versatile Detection: Dual-Sized Microsphere-Type Pressure Sensors for Soft Robotics and Wearable Electronics.

ACS applied materials & interfaces·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 5, 2026

An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components

An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components

Published on: July 18, 2018

Bioinspired Microhinged Actuators for Active Mechanism-Based Metamaterials.

Zi-Yi Cao¹, Huayang Sai¹, Weiwei Wang¹

¹Department of Advanced Manufacturing and Robotics, State Key Laboratory for Turbulence and Complex Systems, BIC-ESAT, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China.

Advanced Science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)

|November 18, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers developed a biomimetic microhinged actuator inspired by insect flight. This innovation enables programmable shape morphing in metamaterials for advanced micro-robotics.

Keywords:

bioinspired microhinge compliant mechanism mechanism‐based metamaterials shape‐morphing two‐photon direct laser writing

More Related Videos

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

Published on: February 28, 2020

Fabrication of Carbon-Based Ionic Electromechanically Active Soft Actuators

Fabrication of Carbon-Based Ionic Electromechanically Active Soft Actuators

Published on: April 25, 2020

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 5, 2026

An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components

An Additive Manufacturing Technique for the Facile and Rapid Fabrication of Hydrogel-based Micromachines with Magnetically Responsive Components

Published on: July 18, 2018

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

Bioinspired Soft Robot with Incorporated Microelectrodes

Published on: February 28, 2020

Fabrication of Carbon-Based Ionic Electromechanically Active Soft Actuators

Fabrication of Carbon-Based Ionic Electromechanically Active Soft Actuators

Published on: April 25, 2020

Area of Science:

* Materials Science
* Robotics
* Biomimetics

Background:

* Mechanism-based metamaterials offer potential for intelligent micromachines.
* Limited microactuator technology restricts programmable motility and shape-morphing capabilities.
* Bioinspiration from insect flight mechanisms provides a novel design paradigm.

Purpose of the Study:

* To develop a biomimetic microhinged actuator integrating compliant mechanisms and soft hydrogel muscle.
* To enable multimodal locomotion and active shape-morphing behaviors in micro- and nanoscale devices.
* To demonstrate programmable shape morphing in 2D and 3D metamaterials.

Main Methods:

* Development of a hydrogel-based microhinged actuator inspired by insect flight.
* Utilizing a Pseudo-Rigid-Body mechanical model for structural deformation analysis.
* Fabrication via multi-step four-dimensional (4D) direct laser writing.
* Integration of actuators into 2D and 3D metamaterials and micro-kirigami.

Main Results:

* The hydrogel microactuator exhibits significant folding with high structural stiffness.
* Multiple actuators enable multi-degree-of-freedom folding in arbitrary directions.
* Fabricated metamaterials demonstrate programmable shape morphing.
* Actuated micro-kirigami with photonic structures show pattern transformation.

Conclusions:

* The bioinspired microhinged actuator overcomes limitations in microactuation for metamaterials.
* This approach facilitates intricate shape-morphing behaviors and programmable locomotion.
* Opens new avenues for developing active mechanism-based metamaterials for micro-robotics.