Researchers at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) have developed an ultra-light robotic insect that uses its soft artificial muscles to move at 3 cm per second across different types of terrain. It can be folded or crushed and yet continue to move.
Imagine swarms of robotic insects moving around us as they perform various tasks. It might sound like science fiction, but its actually more plausible than you might think.
Researchers at EPFLs School of Engineering have developed a soft robotic insect, propelled at 3 cm per second by artificial muscles.
The team developed two versions of this soft robot, dubbed DEAnsect. The first, tethered using ultra-thin wires, is exceptionally robust. It can be folded, hit with a fly swatter or squashed by a shoe without impacting its ability to move.
The second is an untethered model that is fully wireless and autonomous, weighing less than 1 gram and carrying its battery and all electronic components on its back. This intelligent insect is equipped with a microcontroller for a brain and photodiodes as eyes, allowing it to recognize black and white patterns, enabling DEAnsect to follow any line drawn on the ground.
DEAnsect was developed by a team at EPFLs Soft Transducers labouratory (LMTS), working with the Integrated Actuators labouratory (LAI) and colleagues from the University of Cergy-Pontoise, France. The research was published in Science Robotics.
This clever design allowed the researchers to dramatically reduce the size of the power source. ‘DEAs generally operate at several kilovolts, which required a large power supply unit,’ explains LMTS director Herbert Shea. ‘Our design enabled the robot, which itself weighs just 0.2 gram, to carry everything it needs on its back.’
In the longer term, we plan to fit new sensors and emitters to the insects so they can communicate directly with one another.’ (QNA)
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