Researchers have succeeded in developing a morphing structure inspired by the starfish which is flexible but also steady at the same time.
Raman, a PhD student in the Biological Structures and Biomimetics workgroup at Hochschule Bremen – City University of Applied Sciences Bremen, Germany, toldthat the starfish possess the remarkable ability to effortlessly hold themselves in any type of body posture.Using advanced imaging techniques , computational modeling , and detailed image analysis, Raman and his colleagues decoded the roles that the tissues play and how they interact.
The process enabled them to show the complex 3D structure of the starfish skeleton and the fine ultrastructure of the small ossicles for the first time. To translate this ingenious biological design into a new engineering material, they 3D printed a thermoplastic mesh that mimicked ossicles and collagen tissue and a silicon rubber jacket, or derma.Unlike traditional morphing structures built with stiff parts and joints, they leveraged the starfish’s design so that their structure bends smoothly and continuously, even into complex curves.