Locust-Inspired Direction-Dependent Transport Based on a Magnetic-Responsive Asymmetric-Microplate-Arrayed Surface.

Inspired by the highly efficient jumping mechanism of locusts, a magnetic-responsive asymmetric-microplate-arrayed surface is designed. Elastic energy can be stored in the microplate and rapidly released by loading and removing a magnetic field. Similar to the bouncing behavior of the locust, objects deposited on the surface of the microplate-arrayed surface will bounce suddenly. It is found that the continuous transport behavior can be induced in the moving magnetic field and the direction-dependent transport is well achieved by preparing the secondary microstructure. The results show that both the weight and transport velocity of the transported object in the forward transport direction are much greater than those in the reverse transport direction. Furthermore, the anisotropic transport property can be strengthened with the increase of the height of the secondary structure. Such surfaces can transport objects with either soft or hard stiffness, as well as objects with different geometric configurations, and the transport path can be arbitrarily programmed. Based on the transport mechanism, a flexible microconvey belt is further designed, which can transport objects in any controlled direction. Such a simple technique can provide new design ideas for directional microtransport requirements.