如果看到弹药的虫子使您蠕动，您可能想移开视线 - 由加利福尼亚大学伯克利分校研究人员创建的一个新的昆虫大小的机器人，可以几乎以飞镖蟑螂的速度在地板上爬行。而且它几乎和蟑螂一样坚强。尝试将这个机器人挤在您的脚下，而且很有可能会继续前进。
“Most of the robots at this particular small scale are very fragile. If you step on them, you pretty much destroy the robot,” saidLiwei Lin，加州大学伯克利分校的机械工程教授，以及描述机器人的新研究的高级作者。“我们发现，如果我们将重量放在机器人上，它或多或少的功能。”
Small-scale robots like these可能是有利的in search-and-rescue missions, squeezing and squishing into places where dogs or humans can’t fit, or where it may be too dangerous for them to go, said Yichuan Wu, first author of the paper, who completed the work as a graduate student in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley through theTsinghua-Berkeley深圳研究所partnership.
“For example, if an earthquake happens, it’s very hard for the big machines, or the big dogs, to find life underneath debris, so that’s why we need a small-sized robot that is agile and robust,” said Wu, who is now an assistant professor at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.
Thestudy本周出现在日记中科学机器人技术.
PVDF provides roach-like characteristics
The robot, which is about the size of a large postage stamp, is made of a thin sheet of a piezoelectric material called polyvinylidene fluoride, or PVDF. Piezoelectric materials are unique, in that applying electric voltage to them causes the materials to expand or contract.
机器人是由施加交流电压时弯曲并拉直的分层材料构建的，从而使其在“跨越”运动中向前弹簧。学分：加州大学伯克利分校的视频和史蒂芬·麦克纳利的照片
研究人员将PVDF涂在弹性聚合物的层中，这会导致整个纸张弯曲，而不是扩展或收缩。然后，他们添加了一条前腿，以便随着材料在电场下弯曲并拉直，振荡以“跨越”运动推动设备前进。
最终的机器人可能很容易看，但具有出色的能力。它可以以每秒20个体长的速度沿着地面航行，这是可与蟑螂相当的速度，据报道是昆虫级机器人中最快的速度。它可以通过管子拉链，爬小坡，并带有小额负载，例如花生。
Perhaps most impressively, the robot, which weighs less than one tenth of a gram, can withstand a weight of around 60kg [132 lb.] — about the weight of an average human — which is approximately 1 million times the weight of the robot.
林说：“人们可能已经经历过，如果您踩到蟑螂，您可能必须将其磨碎一点，否则蟑螂可能仍然可以生存并逃跑。”“有人踩到我们的机器人正在施加极大的重量，但是[机器人]仍然有效，仍然可以正常工作。因此，从这种特殊意义上讲，它与蟑螂非常相似。”
The robot is currently “tethered” to a thin wire that carries an electric voltage that drives the oscillations. The team is experimenting with adding a battery so the roach robot can roam independently. They are also working to add gas sensors and are improving the design of the robot so it can be steered around obstacles.
该论文的合着者包括Justin K. Yim，Zhichun Shao，Mingjing Qi，Junwen Zhong，Zihao Luo，Ronald S. Fearing和Robert J. Full，UC Berkeley的Robert J. Full，beihang University of Beihang University of Beihang University和Jiaming Liang Liang，Min Zhang和Xiaoohang和XiaoohaoTsinghua大学的王。
这项工作得到了行业 - 大学合作研究中心伯克利传感器和执行器中心的部分支持。
Editor’s note:This article republished from the University of California, Berkeley.
Filed Under:Student programs,The Robot Report,Robotics • robotic grippers • end effectors
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