Insect-sized robots that can crawl, hop and turn | Hacker News Reader

Insect-sized robots that can crawl, hop and turn

newscientist.com

97 pointszdw23 comments

> Robert Shepherd at Cornell University in New York and his colleagues have turned instead methane, a chemical fuel that can store energy at a much higher density than lithium-ion batteries

I think they're on to something there. Imagine a larger-scale vehicle driven using this internal combustion mechanism, large enough even to carry people. It would have a much bigger range than common electric vehicles. I'm pretty sure it will even be possible to use liquefied methane or one of its larger-chained family members which would negate the use of pressure vessels to carry methane and make for a quick and easy recharge, especially compared with the batteries we're used to. I'm off to the patent office, this invention will change the world.

I know this is tongue in cheek, but normal internal combustion engines convert the explosion into rotary motion of an air pump, whereas this uses the explosion in a more direct way via the expansion of the membrane. I thought that was really cool

That's a brilliant idea, to convert the up-and-down motion into a rotary one. It will give the vehicle a much smoother ride. Is it OK by you if I add this to the patent application if I include you as co-inventor?

Sandia built something like this about 20 years ago. It was a ball with a combustion-powered pogo stick piston. A weight inside allowed the ball to orient itself, and then the piston would be fueled and fired to launch it towards the next destination.

The intended application was swarming land mines. Drop a few hundred of these from an aircraft. They sense nearby targets, and when they find a good one, such as a convoy, they call to others nearby to come join the fun.

Love the music contrasted with a pretty whimsically comical robot.

Reminds me of a toy frog that was around in the 1980s/90s where a pressed rubber indent created a timed 'pop' which propelled the toy frog up and over.

Reminds me of the Put-Put, Orion project's chemical explosive propelled proof-of-concept prototype: http://www.century-of-flight.freeola.com/Aviation%20history/...

Can it jump higher than this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daaDuC1kbds ? If so I'd love to see them both hopping around the moon

>“There are lots of places that this would be useful that wouldn’t be right next to a person,” he says. “I do actually think this would be a solution to search and rescue"

Someone smarter than me tell me how this would be at all useful for search and rescue. I can't see it. If this thing, at a large scale, could be used, then so could a helicopter?

I think the idea is to make a small robot to go through gaps in a collapsed structure. This could help figure out which pieces can be moved safely without causing further collapse.

Alternatively, if you can get water to trapped people you can greatly extend how long you have to rescue someone.

"Search and rescue" is the standard excuse anytime someone invents a nifty new robot. I would love to know how many robots are actually really used in search and rescue.

To be more precise, "search and rescue" is a euphemism for "warfare".

“We’ll use it to find people in building rubble” really begs the question of why the building is rubble in the first place

‘Search and destroy.’

More detail / better article: https://newatlas.com/robotics/micro-combustion-robot/

Also, it's tethered to fuel and control.

Reminds me of Blackadder explaining the same concept for humans:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xK4Ixy2tjd8

Heh. One wonders if this research was inspired on that scene. Or perhaps on quake's rocket jumping.

It's interesting that this mechanism doesn't show up in biology, I can imagine a bug with superpowered bug jump that uses methane the bug produces in its gut with helper bacteria. I suppose at very small scales flight is probably way cheaper, biologically.

> It's interesting that this mechanism doesn't show up in biology…

It's not a chemical explosion, but pistol shrimp create tiny, 4,000°C supersonic booms to kill prey. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMhjqbESIeY

some beetles do a similar trick

One step closer to rocket jumping!

> Its makers say it could be produced cheaply in bulk and is ideal for search-and-rescue missions or even exploring other planets.

https://xkcd.com/2128/

search and rescue is also code for the military might find it useful. whenever a drone is supposed to deliver aid packages to firefighters for example.

Would this be a tiny internal combustion engine?

Reminds me of cars using ICE for movement.

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