...Gregory P. Sutton; Ryan St Pierre; Chi-Yun Kuo; Adam P. Summers; Sarah Bergbreiter; Suzanne Cox; S. N. Patek ABSTRACT Small organisms use propulsive springs rather than muscles to repeatedly actuate high acceleration movements, even when constrained to tiny displacements and limited by inertial...

... in elastic structures (e.g. springs) and then rapidly release it using latches, such that movement is driven by the rapid conversion of stored elastic to kinetic energy using springs, with the dynamics of this conversion mediated by latches. Initially drawn to these systems by an interest in the muscle power...

... and location of elastic energy storage structures in this system. We used computed tomography (CT) to visualize the mineralization patterns in Gonodactylaceus falcatus and high speed videography of Odontodactylus scyllarus to observe the dynamics of spring loading. Using a materials testing apparatus, we...