News blog

Robot water strider skims the surface

72711WaterStriderHIREScreditACS.jpgPosted on behalf of George Wigmore.

While walking on water may be a dream for humans, it has become a step closer for robots. Qinmin Pan and colleagues at the Harbin Institute of Technology in China have developed a water-walking robot, mimicking the abilities of the water strider, an insect which can effortlessly skim along the surface of the water. The machines could be used to monitor water pollution, and develop surveillance robots.

Tiny hairs on the legs of the water strider enable it form tiny swirling vortices, trapping small pockets of air, and enabling them to skirt across water without drowning.

Taking inspiration from the water strider and advantage of the high surface tension of water, the tiny 15 cm-long robot can stand, turn and walk perfectly fine on water, reaching speeds of up to 15 cm per second. Despite weighing as much as 390 water striders, the robot can stay afloat supported by ten water-repelling legs, propelled by two actuating legs driven by two tiny motors.

While water-walking robots have been developed in the past with the aim of monitoring water supplies, and conducting military spy missions, until now no one has been able to make a robot which is cheap, practical and agile enough to fit the bill. But with the new robot’s ability to support more than twice its body weight, it can be easily equipped with a miniature camera, enabling the machine to succeed where so many have failed in the past.

Image courtesy of American Chemical Society.

Comments

Comments are closed.