Advanced Bionic Attachment Equipment Inspired by the Attachment Performance of Aquatic Organisms: A Review

Abstract

In nature, aquatic organisms have evolved various attachment systems, and their attachment ability has become a specific and mysterious survival skill for them. Therefore, it is significant to study and use their unique attachment surfaces and outstanding attachment characteristics for reference and develop new attachment equipment with excellent performance. Based on this, in this review, the unique non-smooth surface morphologies of their suction cups are classified and the key roles of these special surface morphologies in the attachment process are introduced in detail. The recent research on the attachment capacity of aquatic suction cups and other related attachment studies are described. Emphatically, the research progress of advanced bionic attachment equipment and technology in recent years, including attachment robots, flexible grasping manipulators, suction cup accessories, micro-suction cup patches, etc., is summarized. Finally, the existing problems and challenges in the field of biomimetic attachment are analyzed, and the focus and direction of biomimetic attachment research in the future are pointed out.