Engineers from Washington State University (WSU) have created the smallest, lightest, and fastest micro-robots ever.
Inspired by actual mini-bugs and water striders, the insect-like micro-robots could one day be used for artificial pollination, search and rescue missions, remote environmental monitoring, micro-fabrication, or even robotic-assisted surgery.
SHAPE MEMORY ALLOY POWERS MOTION OF MICRO-ROBOTS
The waster strider-inspired micro-robot weighs only 55 milligrams, while the mini-bug-inspired robot clocks in at a paltry eight milligrams. Perhaps equally impressive, both can move at about six millimeters a second.
A typical ant weighs about 5 milligrams and can move at nearly a meter per second. While extremely slow compared to real-life insects, this is significantly faster than other micro-robots based on the same technology.
“That is fast compared to other micro-robots at this scale, although it still lags behind their biological relatives,” said Conor Trygstad, a PhD student in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering and lead author of the published work. An avid fly fisherman, Trygstad points out that real water striders move using an efficient rowing motion, while his micro-robot strider is currently limited to a less efficient flat flapping motion.
Hellbound and Down 