Recently a first bio-inspired microbot is developed which has the ability to walk and jump on water. It jumps similar to that of an insect on the surface of the water, this was cleared from a study that showed this mechanism. Qinmin Pan and colleagues from Harbin Institute of Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China, reported a number of advances toward tiny robots that can walk on water.
Given above is a picture that shows how actually the robot looks like but still then even the most advanced designs, including one from Pan’s team last year can only walk on water. Pan noted that real water striders actually leap, the journal Applied Materials & Interfaces reported. Pan’s group looked for novel mechanisms and materials to build a true water-striding robot, according to a Harbin Institute statement. Making a jumping robot is difficult because the downward force needed to propel it into the air usually pushes the legs through the water’s surface.
Specs of the robot
- Using porous
- Super water-repellant nickel foam to fabricate
- Three supporting and two jumping legs
Features of the robot
- leaping capacity of more than 5.5 inches
- weighing as much as 1,100 water striders.
- The robot could jump nearly 14 inches forward leaving the water at about 3.6 miles per hour
The study authors report that the ability to leap will make the bio-inspired microrobot more agile and better able to avoid obstacles it encounters on the water’s surface.
