Grasshopper robot can leap 27 times its body length
Last updated at 4:26 PM on 23rd May 2008
A jumping robot inspired by a grasshopper can leap 27 times its body length, according to scientists.
Swarms of the locust-like drones could one day be used to explore remote areas of the Earth or other planets, they said.
The device, which looks like the workings of a watch perched on two long feet, weighs just seven grams. However, it can jump 1.4 metres - 10 times further for its size and weight than any other robot.
This jumping robot was inspired by the mechanics of a grasshopper
Animals such as fleas, locusts, grasshoppers and frogs use elastic storage mechanisms that slowly charge up jumping energy in their limbs and then quickly release it.
The system allows these creatures to achieve very powerful jumps and extreme accelerations.
The jumping robot employs the same principle, charging two torsion springs by means of a small motor and a cam.
To optimise performance, the legs can be adjusted for jumping force and take-off angle. A tiny on-board battery allows the robot to make up to 320 jumps separated by three second intervals.
Similar jumpers could be fitted with tiny sensors to explore rough, inaccessible terrain
or to help in search and rescue operations, say the scientists.
Professor Dario Floreano, who led the team from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland, said: "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.
"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."
The research was presented today at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Pasadena, California.
