Nature is a good source of inspiration for roboticists, but it’s rare that nature’s elegance and genius can be replicated in any real way. Still, we’re getting closer. This tiny insect-like robot is made of soft materials and weighs less than a gram, yet can move quickly and with some intelligence — and is robust enough to survive a pounding from a fly swatter.
For the most part, tiny robots like this are compromises. For instance, they can move quickly, but only with external power. Or they can navigate intelligently, but only by being controlled remotely. Or they’re power efficient, but unable to move quickly or intelligently.
The DEAnsect, so called for being made of “dielectric elastomer actuators,” is an attempt to create a robot that combines locomotion, intelligence and efficiency into a single package — even if it’s only a little bit of each.
It moves with three little legs, each of which advances ever so slightly when an electric current changes the shape of the elastomer they’re made of, pulling the robot forward a tiny bit. This happens many times per second, too fast for us to see, ..
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