Various bio-inspired vibration isolators have been emerged in recent decades and applied successfully in the protection of sensitive components, improvement of operating comfort, enhancement of control accuracy, etc. They are generally developed by exploiting favorable nonlinearities in biological structures. The main contribution of this work is to provide a comprehensive review of recent studies on the bio-inspired isolators. The methodology of bio-inspired vibration isolation is proposed from the perspective of mechanics based on the elemental theory and design principles. The key isolation mechanisms are classified into three categories according to different dominant forces: stiffness adjustment mechanism, auxiliary mass mechanism, and damping mechanism, respectively. Some representative designs, performance analyses, and practical applications of each type of bio-inspired isolators are also provided. In bio-inspired isolators with variable stiffness, the inherent structural performances can be adjusted to deal with variation in external load. The auxiliary mass mechanism utilizes nonlinear inertial effects to achieve ultralow frequency vibration isolation. Unique damping mechanism of bio-inspired structures is often studied to protect devices and equipment from impact loads. Bio-inspired vibration methods can also be applied in active/semi-active control systems with advantages of low energy consumption and high robustness. Finally, the review ends with conclusions, which highlight resolved and unresolved issues and provide a brief outlook on future perspectives. This review aims to give a comprehensive understanding of bio-inspired isolation mechanism. It also provides guidance on designing new bio-inspired isolators for improving their vibration isolation performance.

Lower limb motion monitoring is in high demand across various application scenarios, such as sports training and rehabilitation. However, existing monitoring systems face significant challenges, including limited power supply sustainability and the lack of mature technologies for three-dimensional motion sensing. To overcome these limitations, this study presents a self-powered three-dimensional lower limb motion monitoring system with full-posture biomechanical energy harvesting capability (TDLM-FPBEH). The system integrates a full-posture biomechanical energy harvester (FPBEH) and a three-dimensional sensing triboelectric nanogenerator (TDS-TENG). The main component of the FPBEH is mounted on the human back, which is more suitable for load-bearing, and it harvests energy from various motion postures without imposing any rigid constraints on body movement, thereby achieving high output power. Meanwhile, the TDS-TENG accurately detects both the direction and the displacement of lower limb movements, enabling comprehensive three-dimensional motion tracking. Experimental results show that under traction excitation at a frequency of 1 Hz and a displacement of 300 mm, a single FPBEH unit delivers an average output power of up to 3.99 W. Furthermore, wearability tests confirm the FPBEH's strong adaptability to various users and motion patterns. The TDS-TENG demonstrates sensitivity to different directions and amplitudes of movement, producing distinguishable electrical signals. Demonstrations involving representative football movements further validate the feasibility of this system for self-powered three-dimensional lower limb motion tracking. Overall, the proposed system offers an integrated solution for sustainable energy harvesting and precise 3D motion monitoring, supporting the requirements of diverse real-world applications.