Tiny Robot Traverses Maze-Like Obstacles with the Speed of a Cheetah

In a groundbreaking development, engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have created an insect-scale robot that could revolutionise search and rescue operations and investigations in hazardous situations. This remarkable device, which resembles a beetle, is constructed from a thin, layered material that bends and contracts when an electric voltage is applied.

The untethered version of this robot can operate on battery power for up to 19 minutes and 31 meters while carrying a gas sensor. Its two footpads allow it to navigate Lego mazes while swerving to avoid falling debris. The robot, described in a paper published online in the journal Science Robotics, is capable of carrying sensors and electronics while also carrying a battery.

One of the challenges in making smaller scale robots is maintaining the power and control of larger robots. However, this robot is very fast, quite strong, and requires very little power. In a 2019 paper, the research team demonstrated that this design can make a cockroach-sized robot scurry at a speed of 20 body lengths per second, or about 1.5 miles per hour.

The paper's senior author is Lin, and co-authors include researchers from Tsinghua University in China, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Carnegie Mellon University, and UC Berkeley. The work is supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, the Shenzhen Fundamental Research Funds, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and a Start Research Grant from the University of Macau.

In a new study, the research team added two electrostatic footpads to the robot, which give operators full control over the trajectory of the robot and allow it to make turns with a centripetal acceleration that exceeds that of most insects. The robot can survive being stepped on by a 120-pound human due to its simple design.

Small, robust robots like these could be ideal for conducting search and rescue operations or investigating hazardous situations, such as scoping out potential gas leaks. The paper's DOI is 10.1126/scirobotics.abe7906. For more information, you can read the news article here.