2023-09-18 15:09:46
Researchers have developed a tiny quadruped robot that explodes methane to move forward. This allows him to carry 22 times his weight or jump as high as an insect.
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Miniature robots are most often powered by a battery, which is very heavy and not very powerful on such small devices. To get around this problem, in an article published in the journal Science, researchers at Cornell University in the United States have created tiny actuators that are essentially internal combustion engines.
Researchers have thus developed a quadruped robot the size of an insect, measuring 29 millimeters long and weighing 1.6 grams, capable of jumping to a height of 59 centimeters or carrying 22 times its weight. It is powered by two actuators, each weighing 325 milligrams and linked to two of the four legs. The combustion chamber, which is covered with a flexible membrane, receives a mixture of methane vapor and oxygen. The explosion is initiated by a spark, which inflates the membrane like a balloon, generating a force of 9.5 newtons. This cycle can be repeated up to a hundred times per second.
Demonstration of the operation of the miniature robot, equipped with two actuators which are essentially internal combustion engines. © Cornell University, IEEE Spectrum
A robot that can take the form of a slug or a bee
To reduce the size of the robot, it does not have a fuel tank. It is connected to pipes to receive the gas mixture and electrical cables to provide the spark. Thanks to a choice of flammable material, the membrane can withstand more than 750,000 continuous cycles, or approximately 8.5 hours of operation at 50 hertz.
The robot manages to move forward using both actuators simultaneously, and pivots by alternating them. Scientists indicate that this is the lower limit of combustible gas volumes. The advantage is that the gas pressure can be used elsewhere in the robot. It could thus be redesigned to become a slug or a bee with wings. The next step is to study how to slow down the actuators, and also do without cables and tubes. In addition, the researchers imagine creating a large robot with thousands of these small actuators; it could be very fast and agile.
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