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Engineers succeed in designing microbot that can walk and jump on water

Catwell

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Water Strider robot (via China’s School of Chemical Engineering and Technology)

 

Don’t grab a can of RAID just yet, this ‘water strider’ isn’t biological but rather mechanical — capable of walking and jumping on the surface of water. The microbot was designed by engineers, led by Associate Professor Qinmin Pan, from China’s School of Chemical Engineering and Technology and mimics the movements of its biological cousin known as Gerridae.

 

The super-light water strider doesn’t actually walk on water to move but rather jumps on it to move from one point to another. This process of locomotion is increasingly difficult to achieve using robots (as noted from the engineering team’s previous effort), so the engineers needed to figure out a way to keep their microbot design afloat while jumping on the water’s surface. To accomplish this feat, the team designed their robot using three supporting legs — one on the front of the robot and two positioned at the rear — and two moveable legs positioned on either side of the microbot that are articulated using a tiny DC motor along with a reduction gear unit. The robots ‘legs’ were made out of super-hydrophobic nickel foam which allows the 0.388 ounce robot to remain on top of the water while jumping. The engineering team’s microbot was actually able to jump over 5 inches high and over 13 inches long on each leap even though it weighs about the same as 1,100 real water striders!

 

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Real water striders in action. Their light weight bodies and leg position enable the insect to sit on top of the water's surface tention (via wiki)

 

The engineers state that their water-borne microbot could be used to monitor water quality or possibly act as a reconnaissance drone for military applications (as long as it stays on relatively calm waters).

 

Cabe

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  • As a young country lad, I used to watch the water skimmers with fascination. 

    They could move really fast or hold still even during a slight wind.  I can easily see these robot released in water ways to monitor contaminants from known and unkown sources of pollution.

    I do worry, however, that the things that eat the skimmers could chock to death if they eat the robots, so they might end up with harming an endangered species.

     

    I suspect that it is far more economical to use satelite remote sensing to monitor pollution.  We could accurately spot contamination sources using the old Landsat data, but I could see the roboskimmers used in areas where tree canopies would keep the water shaded from eyes in the sky.

     

    Just a thought,

    DAB