Design and analysis of locust-like jumping mechanism

A jumping mechanism based on jump characteristics of locust was presented. By biological observation and kinematic analysis of locust jump, the key effect of locust's hind leg knee on the jump performance was discovered, and a simplified dynamic model of locust was built to simulate locust take-off. According to the simplified locust model and physiological structure of the locust's hind leg, a 1 DOF locust-based jumping mechanism was put forward. The kinematical analysis of the mechanism during take-off was implemented and the ground reaction force on hind leg of locust was compared with that of the locust jump simulation. The results show that the mechanism has the similar mechanical properties as locust. Finally, the prototype experiment verifies the analysis results. It provides a valued basis for further research of locust-like efficient flexible jumping mechanism.