It's not quite biomimicry. More like pizzamimicry.
Australian researchers have uncovered the science behind tossing the perfect pizza dough in a quest to make smaller, more efficient motors for use in microrobotics.
The researchers from
Monash University's MicroNanophysics Research Laboratory observed professional pizza throwers at work, studying the rotation, trajectory, speed, stability and energy efficiency of the dough.
They ended up with a set of equations to identify the optimal motions for the dough, motions that can also be applied to standing wave ultrasonic motors (SWUMs) since they also operate on the same principles of a pizza tosser throwing dough in the air.
In the motors, a fixed component vibrates and essentially tosses a rotor in order to move.
The research could help develop even smaller, more efficient motors for use in microrobotic applications, particularly with minimally invasive surgery to reach parts of the body from inside and through the bloodstream. Researchers have been trying to improve SWUMs through trial and error, but now thanks to pizza, they have a model for making them more effective.
Pizza tossing - Courtesy Monash Universitya; CC license by Jeff Kubina
