When miniaturizing the robot, there needs to be a way to avoid the many obstacles that impede progress. A new type of robot takes a unique approach of jumping like a beetle.
Click beetles are insects that, when touched, lie on their backs and pretend to be dead. Once the perceived danger has passed, the beetle holds itself upright via a spring mechanism of coiled muscles that “clicks” on its thorax to toss the insect into the air.
Scientists at the University of Illinois and Princeton University have copied (and simplified) the mechanism in a series of small robots.
The device incorporates a small coiled actuator that pulls a beam-like mechanism that gradually buckles and stores elastic energy. When the mechanism reaches a certain threshold, all its energy is suddenly released and amplified, launching the robot upwards.
Four types of bots were created, two of which were particularly promising due to the fact that they could activate the jumping mechanism without external help. In one case, a robot weighing 1.6 grams and 2 cm (0.8 in) long allowed him to jump as high as 0.9 m (3 ft).
That said, the team says design will continue to evolve, much in the same way that natural systems evolve over the course of their evolution.
Ultimately, the click-beetle-inspired robot could be used for applications such as inspecting large machines, such as jet engines, that can navigate inside while relaying pictures of various components. The possibilities don’t stop there…
Principal scientist Professor Sameh Tawfick of the University of Illinois said: “While scientists and farmers currently use drones and rovers to monitor crops, researchers are using sensors to touch plants and take pictures of very small-scale features. There’s something you need, and an insect-scale robot can do it.”
A paper on the robot (you can see it in action in the video below) was recently published in a journal. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
As an interesting side note, a Columbia University team recently somewhat A similar system allowed a quadruped robot to move its legs by copying the way hair clips store and release energy when bent.
A beetle-inspired jumping robot developed at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Source: University of Illinois
