A robotized system for encouraging grasshoppers to jump

This paper proposes a concept of a robotized system for encouraging grasshoppers to jump, since automatic control of the distance and direction between a target grasshopper and an encouragement action is required for analysis of jumping locomotion in grasshoppers. The proposed system has a simple mechanism with a rotational stage and an XY stage. This paper also develops a rotational stage, and investigates the performance of the rotational stage. In experiments, more than eighty percent trials in four of six individuals met all of the following three: (1) the rotational stage made a target grasshopper face a certain direction within a tolerance of ±1.5 degrees by using a visual servo control technique, (2) the grasshopper did not jump during the rotational stage worked, and (3) the rotational stage stopped automatically after the grasshopper stopped walking.