"Rhagovelia (as opposed to other species of water striders) have fan-like appendages toward the ends of their middle legs that passively open and close depending on how the water beneath them is moving. This is why they appear to glide effortlessly across the water's surface. Biologist Victor Ortega-Jimenez of the University of California, Berkeley, was intrigued by how such tiny insects can accelerate and pull off rapid turns and other maneuvers, almost as if they are flying across a liquid surface."
"It took Ortega-Jimenez five years to figure out how the bugs get around. While Rhagovelia leg fans were thought to morph because they were powered by muscle, he found that the appendages automatically adjusted to the surface tension and elastic forces beneath them, passively opening and closing ten times faster than it takes to blink. They expand immediately when making contact with water and change shape depending on the flow."
Rhagovelia water striders possess fan-like appendages on their middle legs that passively open and close in response to water motion and surface forces. The fans expand immediately upon contact with water and change shape depending on flow, covering a large surface area relative to body size. By maintaining shape during leg movement, the fans generate substantial propulsion that enables rapid acceleration and agile turns across the water surface. These passive, self-morphing appendages demonstrate a biological mechanism for efficient semi-aquatic locomotion and present a template for developing self-morphing artificial propellers largely unexplored in semi-aquatic robots.
Read at Ars Technica
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