Abstract
Bioinspired and biomimetic soft machines rely on functions and working principles that have been abstracted from biology but that have evolved over 3.5 billion years. So far, few examples from the huge pool of natural models have been examined and transferred to technical applications. Like living organisms, subsequent generations of soft machines will autonomously respond, sense, and adapt to the environment. Plants as concept generators remain relatively unexplored in biomimetic approaches to robotics and related technologies, despite being able to grow, and continuously adapt in response to environmental stimuli. In this research review, we highlight recent developments in plant-inspired soft machine systems based on movement principles. We focus on inspirations taken from fast active movements in the carnivorous Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) and compare current developments in artificial Venus flytraps with their biological role model. The advantages and disadvantages of current systems are also analyzed and discussed, and a new state-of-the-art autonomous system is derived. Incorporation of the basic structural and functional principles of the Venus flytrap into novel autonomous applications in the field of robotics not only will inspire further plant-inspired biomimetic developments but might also advance contemporary plant-inspired robots, leading to fully autonomous systems utilizing bioinspired working concepts.
Highlights
The topics of soft robotics and soft machines have tremendously grown as research fields
We provide an overview of existing artificial Venus flytraps (AVFTs) systems, highlight their advantages/disadvantages, and compare their performances, by using values from literature (Table 1)
Another pneumatic artificial trap presented by Pal et al (2019) (Figure 3E, 2) is based on prestressed soft actuators (PSAs) and performs closing movements in 0.05 s
Summary
The topics of soft robotics and soft machines have tremendously grown as research fields. Certain general conditions and requirements to be classified as an AVFT; these include actuation after a certain trigger, a certain closure time, snap buckling movement of the lobes, and reversibility Influencing factors for these systems are costs for production and operation, weight, size, geometry, feasible temperature range, trigger parameters, energy consumptions, produced forces, and robustness. The following parameters are used for a comparison of AVFT systems among themselves and with the biological role model: actuation type, sensing capabilities, usage of the snap buckling principle, lobe closure time, input/requirements for actuation, and reversibility of closure (Table 1).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
