from the can-now-start-up-my-new-robotic-circus dept.
Smaller Than a Flea – The Smallest Remote-Controlled Walking Robot Ever:
[...] The tiny crabs, which are about half a millimeter wide, can bend, twist, crawl, walk, turn, and even leap. Additionally, the scientists created millimeter-sized robots that resemble inchworms, crickets, and beetles. The study is experimental at this time, but the researchers think their technique might move the field closer to developing tiny robots that can carry out useful tasks in small, cramped areas.
"Robotics is an exciting field of research, and the development of microscale robots is a fun topic for academic exploration," said John A. Rogers, who led the experimental work. "You might imagine micro-robots as agents to repair or assemble small structures or machines in industry or as surgical assistants to clear clogged arteries, to stop internal bleeding or to eliminate cancerous tumors — all in minimally invasive procedures."
"Our technology enables a variety of controlled motion modalities and can walk with an average speed of half its body length per second," added Yonggang Huang, who led the theoretical work. "This is very challenging to achieve at such small scales for terrestrial robots."
[...] The crab, which is smaller than a flea, is not propelled by sophisticated machinery, hydraulics, or electricity. Instead, the elastic resilience of its body is where its power rests. The researchers employed a shape-memory material to build the robot, which transforms to its "remembered" shape when heated. In this case, the scientists heated the robot quickly at several targeted spots all over its body using a scanned laser beam. Upon cooling, a thin layer of glass will elastically restore the distorted shape of the corresponding component of the structure.
As the robot changes from one phase to another — deformed to remembered shape and back again — it creates locomotion. Not only does the laser remotely control the robot to activate it, the laser scanning direction also determines the robot's walking direction. Scanning from left to right, for example, causes the robot to move from right to left.
"Because these structures are so tiny, the rate of cooling is very fast," Rogers explained. "In fact, reducing the sizes of these robots allows them to run faster."
Journal Reference:
Mengdi Han, Xiaogang Guo, Xuexian Chen, et al., Submillimeter-scale multimaterial terrestrial robots, Science Robotics, 7, 66, 2022. DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abn0602
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:28PM (2 children)
unclog the sewers
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:36PM
Maybe not one thing, but that could definitely be a very good use case.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @09:20PM
Lower tech solution -- pressure washer with a long hose and sewer jetter attachment.
Some of the jets point "backwards" which pulls the hose into the pipe.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:38PM (1 child)
Evolution has shown these types of creatures are optimal at chewing timber, infecting crawl spaces and spoiling stored goods. I suggest the researchers focus on these areas when looking at opportunities.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @09:15PM
I'd be happy if a swarm of these were released to the local suburban deer herd--programmed to take out the deer ticks that are everywhere (spreading Lime disease).
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:42PM
Who will win, the spermbots [youtu.be] or the little walking thingies?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 13 2022, @11:12AM
When you have to transfer energy to it and "streer" it via lasers aimed at specific "muscles". If I blow on a ping-pong ball, would that be labeled as remote control?