How to use the ovipositor drilling mechanism of hymenoptera for developing a surgical instrument in biomimetic design

Abstract

Hymenopterous insects are able to drill several inches into fresh wood with an egg-laying organ (ovipositor) as thin as a hair, to deposit their eggs. Up to now only one method of boring, i.e. rotary drilling, is technically used. The transfer of biomimetic principle to the fi eld of orthopedic surgery was done in the bionic development process. The analysis of the anatomy and physiology of hymenoptera led to the realization that it is of utmost importance to have the drill composed of three parts to enable a balanced drilling process without transfer of torque to the work piece. This principle was then implemented in a prototypical functional and design model of a drill rasp for creating cavities in the thigh bones for the form-fi tted insertion of cementless hip prosthesis stems. The challenge was to design a drilling device for application in an operating theater. Thus, the emphasis was on an ergonomic user experience, hygiene before and during the process, the specifi c anatomy of the thigh bone, and an optimal workfl ow during the operation. A patent application was fi led for the technical implementation and received the brand name Sirex™ in accordance with a wood wasp genus.

Surprising morphological diversity in ceraphronid wasps revealed by a distinctive new species of Aphanogmus (Hymenoptera: Ceraphronoidea)

“…One such example is the ovipositor of the wood wasp genus Sirex Linnaeus, 1761 (Siricidae Billberg, 1820), which is able to drill into wood with high precision and without transfer of torque. The biomimetic replication of the ovipositor mechanism resulted in a hand-held surgical drilling device that makes drilling cavities in the thigh bones for inserting hip prostheses safer for the patient, easier for the surgeon and improves healing (Nakajima & Schwarz 2014).…”

Introducing adaptive mechatronic designs in bulk handling industry

“…Most theories in the field of fluidization consider an upward fluid or gas flow [11,13] and provide a more detailed description of the fluidization concept. Adaption by vibration includes mechanisms that can excite local or global vibration to a surface of which the technology is described in [14][15][16][17][18][19]. The purpose of vibration is to introduce additional forces into the system which counteracts the shear strength of the bulk material [16].…”

Development of a Novel Wasp-Inspired Friction-Based Tissue Transportation Device

“…Our new transportation system is based on the egg-laying needle, also known as the ovipositor, of some species of parasitic wasps ( Vincent and King, 1995 ; Le Lannic and Nénon, 1999 ; Kundanati and Gundiah, 2014 ; Nakajima and Schwarz, 2014 ). The purpose of the ovipositor is the deposition of eggs in a host, hidden in a piece of fruit ( Kundanati and Gundiah, 2014 ), or the bark of a tree ( Le Lannic and Nénon, 1999 ) in order to provide the wasp’s progeny with nutrition during the early stages of development ( Vincent and King, 1995 ; Nakajima and Schwarz, 2014 ). The ovipositor generally consists of three segments called valves ( Figure 1 ) ( Quicke et al, 1994 ; Rahman et al, 1998 ).…”