There are a number of biomimetic applications for the
mechanism of the chameleon’s tongue. An engineered chameleon’s tongue could
firstly be used to supplant flyswatters: the design is indeed advantageous over
the fly-swatter as it can be used on larger insects because the tongue is
adhesive and has a large surface area, it doesn’t make a splatter or mess on
the wall because it retrieves the insect from the environment. Moreover, the
dead insect can be disposed of easily. Additionally, this design could also be
used to collect insects, it can therefore supplant the butterfly net which has
a number of disadvantages. The proposed design would indeed be preferable to
butterfly nets because it would able to collect insects on surfaces in addition
to airborne insects, it would not damage the insect under study as the tongue
is soft as well as adhesive and it would only catch the intended insects
because it’s a very targeted tool. Finally this design can have a number of
applications in the industrial sector as it can be used products in factory
lines. The proposed design could effectively serve to collect defective
products or to collect products for control testing. The design can be
beneficial for this application as it would not damage the product when
removing it from the factory line. It’s worth noting that if automated, the
applications of the proposed design can be amplified exponentially.
