A team of scientists from Northwestern University, USA, has developed robot the smallest crab-shaped that can be controlled remotely. The robot is known to be only the size of a tick.
Collect Science News, the robot is only half a millimeter wide. But it can bend, twist, crawl, walk, turn, and jump.
Currently, research on robot micro size is still in the exploration stage. But the researchers believe the technology could help with practical tasks in very tight small spaces.
In addition to the crab robot, the researchers are also developing other micro robots that resemble worms, crickets, and beetles.
“Robotics is an exciting area of research, and the development of micro-scale robots is a fun topic for academic exploration,” said John A. Rogers, who led the research. Science Daily.
Rogers said some might imagine microrobots as agents for repairing or assembling small structures or machines in industry, to cleaning clogged arteries. However, micro robots can be developed with many functions.
“Our technology allows various controlled movement modalities and can walk at an average speed of half his body length per second,” added Yonggang Huang, a theoretical leader in this research.
Smaller than a fly, this robot crab is not powered by complicated hydraulics, hardware, or electrical structures. Instead, this robot gets power from its elastic and strong body.
To assemble it, scientists use a mixture of materials that can return to its original shape after being folded or bent (shape-memory alloy). Then, the experts used a laser beam to heat each different target on the robot’s body.
The thin layer of glass then elastically restores the robot’s body structure back to its original state upon cooling. To control the movement of this robot, experts use laser beam scanning.
For example, when scanning from left to right, the robot will move from right to left. “Because this structure is so small, the cooling rate is very fast,” explained Rogers as quoted from the official website Northwestern University.
In the manufacture of this robot, the experts were inspired by embossed books (pop-up book). The technique was introduced by Rogers and Huang eight years ago and was inspired by a children’s pop-up book.
Regarding the reason for choosing the crab shape, Rogers admitted that actually he and his team could choose any shape.
“With assembly techniques and conceptual materials like this, we can make robots in various sizes or three-dimensional shapes. But the students are inspired by the way the crab moves sideways,” he said.
Research on this micro robot has been published in the journal Science Robotics, on Wednesday (25/5).
(can/lth)
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