Insect Locomotion
Insects are incredibly diverse in their chosen mode of locomotion and the structures used achieve this, but one common feature to all arthropods is that their ways of getting from here to there are incredibly adapted to their environment. Different species of insects can walk on water, climb up vertical surfaces, run extremely quickly over rough terrain and walk on upside-down surfaces with extraordinary stability, and that’s without including the diversity within aerial and aquatic locomotion. Researchers have known about this diversity this for some time, but the information seemed unlikely to help human progression until the late 1990’s (Paulson, 2004). Now roboticists are studying insect locomotion a little more carefully to gain inspiration for their designs (Akimoto et al., 1999). The research is called biomimetics, due to engineers mimicking biological structures and behaviours to enhance their robotic designs (Paulson, 2004).