A STUDY ON APHONOPELMA SEEMANNI BIOMECHANICS OF MOTION WITH EMPHASIS ON POTENTIAL FOR BIOMIMETIC ROBOTICS DESIGN by Dana Lynn Moryl A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Purdue University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering West Lafayette, Indiana May 2020 THE PURDUE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE SCHOOL STATEMENT OF COMMITTEE APPROVAL Dr. Eric A. Nauman, Chair School of Mechanical Engineering and Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Dr. David M. Umulis School of Agricultural and Biological Engineering and Biomedical Engineering Dr. Brock A. Harpur School of Entomology Approved by: Dr. George R. Wodicka 2 With great thanks to my parents, Daniel and Cynthia Moryl, my sister Elly, my friends, and all who have supported me and shaped me into the woman I am today. 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Eric Nauman for his steadfast guidance and support on this and other projects throughout my undergraduate and graduate studies here at Purdue. Words cannot express my gratitude for all you have taught me, and for your patience over the years. I would also like to thank my committee members, Dr. David Umulis and Dr. Brock Harpur for their counsel and input on this project. A sincere thank you to David Yang for the countless hours and late nights working on the sensors and capture code. Without your help, this project would not have been nearly as successful as it has been, and your steadfast confidence in its potential has been truly appreciated. During my time here, I have been blessed to work with many fantastic BME faculty who have provided support on this project. A special thanks to Norvin Bruns for his machining prowess for helping me design and develop the tank for this project, and to Corey Linkel for always being a listening ear when things went wrong. For all the support during my position as a teaching assistant, and for allowing the use of his labs for working on the project, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to Asem Aboelzahab as well. Your hard work improving the sophomore, junior, and senior design labs and helping prepare the students for industry is invaluable and highly appreciated. To Clarisse Zigan and Chase Weinstein; thank you so much for all of your hours on and dedication to this project. I truly could not have done it without you. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to TA two classes during my time here and would like to extend a thank you to my students for making the experience both memorable and enjoyable. Best of luck to all of you, you have bright futures ahead of you. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................... 7 LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................ 8 ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................. 10 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 11 1.1 Biomimetics and the Field of Robotics ............................................................................. 11 1.2 The Spider as an Ideal System .......................................................................................... 12 1.3 Relevant Arachnid Anatomy and Physiology ................................................................... 13 1.4 The Striped Knee Tarantula .............................................................................................. 16 LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................................................................... 17 2.1 Arthropod Biomechanics (1900s-present) ........................................................................ 17 2.2 Spider-Inspired Robotic Systems ...................................................................................... 20 2.3 Novelty of Research .......................................................................................................... 22 METHODS ............................................................................................................................ 23 3.1 Tank Development ............................................................................................................ 23 3.2 Spider ................................................................................................................................ 24 3.3 Temperature ...................................................................................................................... 24 3.4 Sensor System ................................................................................................................... 24 3.5 Camera Setup .................................................................................................................... 27 3.6 Initial Analysis of Data (Painting spider/tracker system) ................................................. 27 3.7 Kinematic Analysis ........................................................................................................... 29 3.8 Biomechanical Analysis.................................................................................................... 32 RESULTS .............................................................................................................................. 34 4.1 Limb Measurements.......................................................................................................... 34 4.2 Limb Height ...................................................................................................................... 34 4.2.1 Tarsus ......................................................................................................................... 34 4.2.2 Femur-Patella Joint .................................................................................................... 36 4.3 Angle Analysis .................................................................................................................. 37 4.4 Step Patterns...................................................................................................................... 39 4.5 Duty Factors and Speed .................................................................................................... 42 5 4.6 Center of Mass Deviations, COM vs Speed ..................................................................... 43 4.7 Pitch and Yaw ................................................................................................................... 44 4.8 Forces Applied During Trial ............................................................................................. 44 4.9 Effect of Temperature on Movement ................................................................................ 46 4.9.1 Temperature Effect on Steps ..................................................................................... 46 4.9.2 Temperature Effect on Other Variables ..................................................................... 48 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ................................................................................... 49 5.1 Step Analysis .................................................................................................................... 49 5.2 Angle Analysis (limbs, pitch yaw, etc) ............................................................................. 50 5.3 Force System Analysis ...................................................................................................... 50 5.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 51 APPENDIX A. GITHUB REPOSITORY .................................................................................... 52 APPENDIX B: SELECT HEIGHT ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 52 APPENDIX C: SELECT ANGLE ANALYSIS ........................................................................... 54 APPENDIX D: SELECT DUTY FACTOR AND STEP ANALYSIS ........................................ 55 APPENDIX E: CALIBRATION CURVES ................................................................................. 57 APPENDIX F: SELECT TEMPERATURE ANALYSIS ............................................................ 58 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 59 6 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Limb lengths of spider in centimeters±.2 cm (N=5) ....................................................... 34 Table 2: Table of average maximum tarsus heights in cm with standard deviation (N=7) .......... 35 Table 3: Average maximum height and standard deviation of the femur-patella joint in cm (N=7) ....................................................................................................................................................... 37 Table 4: Average angle in degrees for each joint and limb .......................................................... 39 Table 5: Walking style with percentage of time in use ................................................................. 42 Table 6: Average duty factor and standard deviation by leg (N=13) ........................................... 42 Table 7: Calculated millinewton