2010-05-02

Insect Inspired Robots

Amazing Insect Inspired Robots of 2009

Taking inspiration from insects some of the most creative minds in world crafted robots that mimic nature to transform our lives forever. Take a peep into their genius.



Clipped from: SPRAWL ROBOTS!!



The "Sprawl" family of hand-sized hexapedal robots are prototypes designed to test ideas about locomotion dynamics, leg design and leg arrangement and to identify areas that can be improved by Shape Deposition Manufacturing.
 
Sprawl robots are some of the fastest (up to 5 body-lengths per second) and most robust (hip-height obstacles) legged robots out there. They are the result of close collaboration between roboticists, manufacturing engineers and biologists.


Stanford Sprawl and iSprawl





 RHex: Robotic Hexapod






The RHex project arose from an earlier DARPA DSO effort initiated within the 1998 CBS/CBBS program called Computational Neuromechanics. In this prior work our team addressed hypotheses about the organization of locomotory control in animals in a mathematically sound and empirically refutable manner while exploring as well the prospects for using MEMS technology to create effectively an electronic harness for insects.




The RHEX hexapod robot climbing stairs



Clipped from: Case Biorobotics Lab
back to Biorobotics homeCase Western Reserve University


 
Whegs™ Robots



The robot pictured above is Whegs™ I. It is 20 inches long, and utilizes three-spoke wheel-legs and one drive motor. It can climb obstacles of heights up to 1.5x the wheel-leg radius, and the robot can move up to a speed of 3 body lengths/second (5.5km/hr).




A-pod, an ant inspired hexapod


  • A large and a very flexible head, ideal 3 DOF
  • Large mandible that can grab around a bottle/can
  • A thorax, the main body with a natural shape for all legs and main battery
  • A 2 DOF controlled Abdomen (a tail, gaster) holding all electronics




Sources:
  1. YouTube - Amazing Insect Inspired Robots of 2009
  2. SPRAWL ROBOTS!!
  3. YouTube - Stanford Sprawl and iSprawl
  4. Kod*lab : RHex: Robotic Hexapod
  5. YouTube - CrunchGear.com - RHEX hexapod robot
  6. Case Biorobotics Lab
  7. YouTube - Whegs Wheel-Leg Robot
  8. [Project] A-pod, an ant inspired hexapod - Trossen Robotics Community
  9. YouTube - A-Pod part 2
Related:
  1. Hexapod (robotics) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  2. Hexbug - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  3. Poly-PEDAL
  4. Sangbae Kim's home page - isprawl
  5. Case Biorobotics Lab
  6. New Must-See Video of the Spectacular A-Pod Ant Robot | Singularity Hub
  7. YouTube - A-Pod part 1