When you hear the word shrimp, the first thing that crosses your mind is seafood. But have you ever thought that a shrimp could pack powerful punching power? However, the mantis shrimp has the strongest punch of any animal that exists on Earth.

The incredibly strong punch is a result of acceleration, with the mantis able to accelerate appendages faster than a bullet coming out of a gun. A single punch can crack the shell of a crab. Researchers have to try to figure out how the mantis generates such a powerful punch.

Robot mimicking mantis shrimp

Researchers from Harvard used high-speed cameras to know more about the mechanics of the powerful punch. The study could pave the way for small robots that will be able to pack a lot of power. Professor Robert Wood, the paper’s senior author, says the speed and force of a mantis shrimp is a result of an underlying mechanism.

The team constructed a robotic model of the shrimp striking appendage to study the mechanics behind the punch. They discovered that the mantis shrimp has a pair of small structures embedded in the tendons of its muscles known as sclerites, serving as a latch for the appendage.

What generates immense power?

It is similar to the latch on a mousetrap that, when released, immediately releases all of the stored tension in the spring. Surprisingly, when the sclerites unlatch, there is a significant delay. Speculation hints that while the sclerites initiate unlatching in the muscles, there is a secondary latch that takes care of the movement while it continues to store energy.

The hypothesis hadn’t been tested until now. The team developed a robot and developed a mathematical model of the movement of the shrimp. Four different phases of the strike were mapped, after which the team found that once unlatched, the geometry holds striking appendage in place until an “over-centering point” is reached and it starts striking.