This is not the first time, see the Flagellum Motor (which is far more complex) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagellum
(often used in ontological arguments)
That's a rotating joint, but doesn't include gears (though it is really cool!). Conversely these gears are not on fully rotating joints, but on pivoting joints.
I understand that the 'gears' synchronize the jump, but can this be considered 'mechanical gears', if it is not a completely independent system where the energy of one gear is being transmitted to the other?
Can it be a gear if it does not make a complete 360 degrees rotation? what defines a gear? if there were 3 teeth, does it define a gear?
> if it is not a completely independent system where the energy of one gear is being transmitted to the other
But that is what's happening. That's what the gears are for. They synchronise the motion by transmitting force from either side to the other.
If the left leg faces less resistance (or has a stronger muscle, etc.), then the extra motion that would go into the left leg is instead balanced across to the right leg through the gears.
A gear is about the teeth and the ability to synchronize according to a ratio. If you just need 180 degrees of motion (and e.g. will move it manually or automatically back to the starting point begin with), it's still a gear.
If you wanted to synchronize the motion of two parallel output shafts that are being driven independently, this would be one mechanical arrangement that would get the job done. The two parts that engage in this configuration would be called gears. (most likely they would use sprockets and a timing chain...can't wait till someone finds that in nature)
There was an old s.f. short story about the tripulation of an space ship stuck in a planet where they found plastic-eating plants and little animals moved by gears. Somebody remembers the title/author?
It's neat to think about how that would evolve. I'm assuming as the beginning those two surfaces where without gear teeth and only relied on friction. As the insect evolved, the insects with a more tougher surface there would be able to get more friction and thus force transfer leading to further hops. Take that to the extreme and you've got gears!
"Unlike man-made gears, each gear tooth is asymmetrical and curved towards the point where the cogs interlock – as man-made gears need a symmetric shape to work in both rotational directions, whereas the Issus gears are only powering one way to launch the animal forward"
What are some examples of man made gears that work differently when rotating the other way?
I'm a big fan of ATP synthase. It brings me joy to imagine a quadrillion spinning doodads powering my body at all times. We don't just have a rotor and stator like a jet engine, we have a quadrillion of them! Possibly even a quintillion! Wheee!
To me, it just adds to the engineering anxiety about maintenance. The whole thing is already a bunch of spaghetti on the macro-level, repair is a major pain in the ass.
Ha, it does feel that way! I can see it now: a framing narrative about hearing the word "protein" in the context of bulk nutrition and derailing into molecular biology. Hover text: One of the figures in the "quintillion" calculation is a bit suspect but the result is still guaranteed to within three orders of magnitude, or your money back!
This feels a bit too good to let it die here. I wonder if Randall Munroe has an idea box I can toss it into and help spread the good word of ATP synthase.
The Rob Lue animation linked by jacquesm is probably a good next step, but it does feel like it was intended to be played in the middle of a lecture. At any rate it's a good excuse to brush up on molecular bio :)
It appears there are forums and an IRC channel, I may drop in at some point and leave a link to this, because I agree, it does seem to good to let die here.
And the video is definitely a good start, as it definitely gives enough search terms, as well as enough background to start building an understanding.
Snooping around for photos on the internet. It looks to me, as someone who made gears for a living, that they are Miter Bevel Gears. (Miter - both gears have the same pitch and bevel angle)
The odd part is they are only used temporarily, then discarded at maturity.
In the real world, it takes 2 hours or so to set up a bevel gear generator like the Gleason 14.
The Cambridge university link has a huge pop up asking to accept cookies; an auto leave this website for myself. The other link opens without such pop ups.
