Automatrons built marked as protected1/12/2024 ![]() ![]() Salto, short for saltatorial locomotion on terrain obstacles, is a one-legged jumping robot that is 10.2 inches high (fully extended), weighs about 3.5 ounces, and can jump up to 1 meter (3.3 feet) high. ( Credit: Stephen McNally, University of California, Berkeley) Salto is the predecessor of robots that will be able to leap over several obstructions without losing momentum. Salto jumps to its jobīiomimetic Millisystems Lab, University of California, Berkeley According to one of the paper's authors, the research illustrated the ability to construct microsystem assemblies with high accuracy. ![]() The results were published by the American Institute of Physics. The house stood on the tip of a piece of optical fiber. In comparison, a grain of sand is anywhere from 0.05 mm to 2 mm in diameter. ![]() The robot, working inside a vacuum chamber, used an ion beam to cut and shape a silica membrane that could then be assembled, like a piece of origami paper, into a house standing 0.015 mm high and 0.020 mm across. So what better way to do so than to have it build the smallest house in the world? Scientists from the Femto-ST Institute in France wanted to demonstrate the capabilities of their μRobotex platform, a new, extremely small microrobot system. This incredibly tiny house was built by a robot on the tip of a strand of optical fiber. But the little buzzer has already proved so talented, who knows what will come next? μRobotex builds itself a house With all its talents, the RoboBee isn't completely autonomous yet. Most recently, the 80-milligram robot can take a swim, leap up from the water (getting a boost from a combustible fuel called oxyhydrogen), and then land. In 2015, it learned to swim, and in 2016, it gained the ability to "perch" on surfaces using static electricity, which allows the RoboBee to save energy for longer flights. Its first successful flight was back in 2013. Like HAMR, the RoboBee (with the help, of course, of its roboticists) has improved its game. The tiny robots can sense a gust of wind, for example, and adjust their flight plan accordingly, rather than going off course or losing altitude. Roboticists at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have been developing insectoid robots that not only navigate like bees but behave like them as well. If you're uneasy about robots that were built to resemble cockroaches, maybe you'll feel better about robots built to resemble-or at least fly like-bees. (It still needs a ramp to get back to shore, however.) The flight of the RoboBees More recently, scientists at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences added footpads that enable the tiny robot to swim on the surface of water and then sink down and walk underwater. It is capable of moving around independently, although it's only slightly heavier and slower ( because of the batteries) than its tethered counterpart. The HAMR-F, for example, has gotten rid of its leash. HAMR has provided researchers with a useful basis from which to try a number of innovations. And HAMR is fast: According to Harvard, it can move about 10.5 body lengths per second. Harvard's Ambulatory Microrobot (HAMR) is a versatile, 1.8-inch-long robotic platform that can run, jump, carry small payloads (about twice its own under-an-ounce weight), and turn on a dime. While some of us may decry the unfortunate tendency for small ambulatory robots to be compared to insects-such as, say, cockroaches-those insects often can inspire great things. (Credit: Yufeng Chen, Neel Doshi, and Benjamin Goldberg/Harvard University) Harvard's HAMR microrobot can walk, swim, and dive. The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences But it won't be long before they will be jumping through disaster-struck areas, flying over fires, or crawling through your car's engine. Most of the six microrobots I describe here are still in early phases of development and testing. These microrobots are being built to run, fly, swim, and jump into places that are too cramped or too dangerous for humans to venture into. However, some of the most useful robots being created today can be as small as insects or so diminutive that you can't see them without the help of a microscope. We may think of robots as large, hulking, industrial-sized metal monstrosities, up-and-coming medical devices, or cute, humanoid helpers. Look down-that tiny creature you're about to step on may be a robot.
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