This itsy-bitsy robot can't climb
up the waterspout yet but it can run, jump, carry heavy payloads and turn on a
dime. Dubbed HAMR-JR, this microrobot developed by researchers at the Harvard
John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and the
Harvard Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, is a half-scale
version of the cockroach-inspired Harvard Ambulatory Microrobot or HAMR. About
the size of a penny, HAMR-JR can perform almost all the feats of its
larger-scale predecessor, making it one of the most dexterous microrobots to
date.
HAMR-JR comes in at 2.25
centimeters in body length and weighs about 0.3 grams—a fraction of the weight
of an actual penny. It can run about 14 body lengths per second, making it not
only one of the smallest but also one of the fastest microrobots. Scaling down
does change some of the principles governing things like stride length and
joint stiffness, so the researchers also developed a model that can predict
locomotion metrics like running speeds, foot forces, and payload based on a
target size. The model can then be used to design a system with the required
specifications.
More information: