[HN Gopher] Insect-sized robots that can crawl, hop and turn
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Insect-sized robots that can crawl, hop and turn
Author : zdw
Score : 86 points
Date : 2023-10-01 02:55 UTC (20 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.newscientist.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.newscientist.com)
| inportb wrote:
| Would this be a tiny internal combustion engine?
| 7373737373 wrote:
| 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
| the_third_wave wrote:
| > 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.
| [deleted]
| candiodari wrote:
| 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.
| nuancebydefault wrote:
| Reminds me of cars using ICE for movement.
| Animats wrote:
| 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.
| idiotsecant wrote:
| 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.
| CharlesW wrote:
| > _It 's interesting that this mechanism doesn't show up in
| biology..._
|
| It's not a chemical explosion, but pistol shrimp create tiny,
| 4,000degC supersonic booms to kill prey.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMhjqbESIeY
| pvaldes wrote:
| some beetles do a similar trick
| Qem wrote:
| 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/...
| tehwebguy wrote:
| One step closer to rocket jumping!
| the__alchemist wrote:
| > 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/
| orbifold wrote:
| 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.
| Loughla wrote:
| >"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?
| Retric wrote:
| 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.
| foreigner wrote:
| "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.
| bondarchuk wrote:
| To be more precise, "search and rescue" is a euphemism for
| "warfare".
| cooldrcool2 wrote:
| 'Search and destroy.'
| bglazer wrote:
| "We'll use it to find people in building rubble" really
| begs the question of why the building is rubble in the
| first place
| mhb wrote:
| More detail / better article:
| https://newatlas.com/robotics/micro-combustion-robot/
|
| Also, it's tethered to fuel and control.
| lwhi wrote:
| 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.
| [deleted]
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