American roboticists from the University of Washington have designed the smallest, lightest and fastest fully functional robots to date. A report on the study was presented in the materials of the International. conferences IEEE Robotics and Automation Society on Intelligent Robots and Systems.
Miniature cars are made in the form of a bug and a water wanderer. The first device weighs only 8 milligrams, while the second device weighs 55 milligrams. Both are capable of moving about six millimeters per second on the surface of water or land.
A special feature of microrobots is their drivers, which weigh less than a milligram. They use a shape memory alloy that changes configuration when heated and then returns to its original form. This feature allows you to make very durable engines with no moving or rotating parts.
The motors of robotic insects consist of two tiny wires with a diameter of 0.0025 centimeters. They are heated and cooled by a small current, allowing the machines to move limbs up to 40 times per second. During preliminary tests, the microdrive was able to lift 150 times its own weight.
Scientists are trying to develop microbatteries or other power sources to make their cars fully autonomous.
Previously Korean engineers was created The world’s fastest robot dog.