A physical model of mantis shrimp for exploring the dynamics of ultrafast systems

Significance Many small organisms produce ultrafast movements by storing elastic energy and mediating its storage and rapid release through a latching mechanism. The mantis shrimp in particular imparts extreme accelerations on rotating appendages to strike their prey. Biologists have hypothesized, but not tested, that there exists a geometric latching mechanism which mediates the actuation of the appendage. Inspired by the anatomy of the mantis shrimp striking appendage, we develop a centimeter-scale robot which emulates the linkage dynamics in the mantis shrimp and study how the underlying geometric latch is able to control rapid striking motions. Our physical and analytical models could also be extended to other behaviors such as throwing or jumping in which high power over short duration is required.