Jumpin' Jiminy!
27 May 2008, 16:00
Categories: biomimicry
This isn’t nanotechnology at work, however it is an interesting development.
Researchers from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) have unveiled a novel, grasshopper-inspired jumping robot. The robot weighs a miniscule 7 grams, and can jump 1.4 meters, or more than 27 times its body size. This is ten times farther for its size and weight than any existing jumping robot.
These jumpers could be fitted out with tiny sensors to explore rough, inaccessible terrain or to aid in search and rescue operations. “This biomimetic form of jumping is unique because it allows micro-robots to travel over many types of rough terrain where no other walking or wheeled robot could go,” explains EPFL Professor Dario Floreano. “These tiny jumping robots could be fitted with solar cells to recharge between jumps and deployed in swarms for extended exploration of remote areas on Earth or on other planets.”
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