The bug encourages tiny robots that can perform tasks in hard-to-reach areas and harsh environments.
University of Pittsburgh engineers create impressive robots with insects that can monitor difficult spots.
These historic creatures can squeeze through the tiniest cracks, fit snugly into tight spaces, and survive in harsh environments: There aren’t many areas that can be off-limits to insects.
That’s why researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have created tiny bug-inspired robots that can perform tasks in hard-to-reach areas and harsh environments.
“These robots are most likely to be used to penetrate restricted areas to analyze images or the environment, take water samples or perform structural assessments,” said Junfeng Gao, who led the work with as a doctoral student in industrial engineering at Swanson College of Engineering. “Wherever you need to get into restricted locations — where bugs can go but an individual cannot — these machines can very well be useful.”
For many creatures below a certain dimension — like ants, mantis shrimp, and fleas — jumping around on the floor is more energy efficient than crawling. These impulsive actions have been reproduced in the robot, which is manufactured from synthetic polymeric muscle.
M. Ravi Shankar, professor of business engineering at Pitt, defines it: “It’s like loading an arrow into a bow and photographing it — the robots latch on to generate power then launch it along. an impulsive forward explosion,” said M. Ravi Shankar, professor of business engineering at Pitt. The laboratory led the analysis. “Typically, the work in the compound muscle groups that we work with is fairly gradual. We got caught up in the question, ‘How can we take this synthetic muscle and use it to create a leaping action rather than gradual activity?’
The answer lies in the interplay of molecular order and geometry.
“The curved synthetic form of the polymer muscle allows it to generate power when energized. Mohsen Tabrizi, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in industrial engineering at Swanson University, mentions how the linked molecules in muscle draw inspiration from the pure world, where their mixed action gives strength to construction. . “That is accomplished without using many volts of electrical energy.”
Flexible movements and light-weight construction allow the robots – relative to the size of a cricket – to move along moving surfaces like sand, as simple as work surfaces and even jump domestic.
Reference: “Molecularly Directed, Geometrically Pegged, Impulsive Action Power Gram Sub-Scale Engines” by Junfeng Gao, Arul Clement, Mohsen Tabrizi and M. Ravi Shankar, October 1, 2021, Premium Supplies for Applied Science.
DOI: 10.1002 / admt.202100979
