Researchers from Illinois made massive progress in small-scale robotics after the successful development of click beetle-sized robots.
New Click Beetle-Inspired Robots Capable of Performing Tasks
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Princeton University have studied click beetles. They examined its anatomy, mechanics and evolution in the past decade, according to Illinois News Bureau.
They learned from a 2020 study that clicks beetles have a coiled muscle in their thorax that enables the rapid release of elastic energy, allowing them to propel themselves in the air as many times as their body length and right themselves when they flip onto their backs.
The new study led by mechanical science and engineering professor Sameh Tawfick demonstrated how the click-beetle-sized robots were small enough to enter tight spaces, powerful enough to maneuver themselves in obstacles and fast enough to match an insect's speed.
Tawfick admitted that one of the biggest challenges in small-scale robotics is finding a small but fast enough design to escape dangerous settings. Their study used tiny coiled actuators similar to the click beetles' muscles.
They pulled it into a beam-shaped mechanism causing the robot to slowly buckle and store elastic energy until it was spontaneously released and amplified, propelling the robot upwards.
They called the process dynamic buckling cascade. It was reportedly simpler compared to the click beetles' anatomy. Tawfick added that it was good because it allowed them to fabricate parts on a small scale.
The team tested four device variations and ended up with two configurations that successfully jumped without manual intervention.
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What's Next For Small-Scale Robotics
The new study paved the way for the evolution of the said small-scale robotics, similar to evolution in biology, according to Tawfick. They see their robots in various fields, including mechanical, agricultural and search-and-rescue settings.
The team sees their small-scale robots making it into tight spaces easily to help with maintenance on large machines, including turbines and jet engines. It could also be used to enter small spaces to take photos and identify problems.
Tawfick is also seeing insect-scale robots being used in modern agriculture. At present, farmers use drones and rovers to monitor crops.
However, they sometimes need sensors to touch a plant and capture photographs of small-scale features, which insect-scale robots can do.
The findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
What is a Click Beetle?
According to Britannica, a click beetle is called a skipjack, snapping, or spring beetle. It is any of the approximately 7,000 species of beetles that makes a clicking noise when seized by a predator, hence the name.
Most click beetles are between 2.5 to 18 mm in size. They come in brown or black colors with either little or no ornamentation.
When a click beetle is touched, it falls on its back and plays dead. To right itself, it bends its head and thorax forward and hooks a spine into a notch on its abdomen.
When the spine is released, it makes a "click" sound, and the beetle is hurled into the air.
Click beetles feed on leaves at night. They are attracted to sweet liquids.
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