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Researchers have discovered that the trunk of an elephant forms a kind of seal to collect small pieces of food, a technique they believe could be used as inspiration for robotic arms.
A team of researchers led by Jianing Wu of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Georgia, USA, filmed an African elephant (Loxodonta africana) eat small pieces of food and measure the force exerted by the trunk during exercise. They discovered that the animal was stacking food, then forming a joint to collect as much as possible at one time.
"Making joints can help reduce the energy needed to reach and grasp foods, a task they do 18 hours a day," the researchers write. Journal of the Royal Society Interface. "Joint formation can also be applied to elephant-inspired robots."
To explore the functioning of the trunk, scientists have proposed to an elephant small particles of food – wheat bran, chopped swedes or chopped carrots. Elephants generally do not eat foods reduced to such small pieces, but offering them in this form was an effective way to see how the trunk could work.
Wu and his colleagues discovered that elephants form a sort of trunk seal that squeezes several jaws together.
"Although the elephant's trunk lacks bone, joint formation mimics a common strategy of vertebrates to reach out and grab objects," note the researchers.
Joints allow structures such as degrees of freedom of human limbs, allowing them to reach more points in space. They can also provide leverage.
"That's why bone-free appendages, such as the elephant trunk and the octopus arm, have both shown joint formation," the researchers write.
"The octopus forms a joint like the elbow only when recovering food. Our study shows that the use of the joints could be more common than previously thought. "
This discovery could be of particular interest to designers in robotics.
"Long and flexible robots have long been of interest to the robotics community," write the authors of the study.
"Such researchers have been inspired by snakes, octopuses and elephants. However, even among these animals, the elephant stands out because the trunk can apply the greatest strengths. "
Indeed, the elephant's trunk is the largest hydrostat – a type of boned muscle organ – on land, weighing 150 kg. This weight is part of the strength he can exert.
"Wild elephants can still apply the strategies we've observed if they have to support their trunks down while they are feeding," the authors conclude.
"To remove the bark of a tree, vertical forces are needed and the elephant can possibly form joints for this task. Now that we have seen joint formation, future work will determine how often elephants use this strategy. "
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