They’re pests that many people dread entering their houses, but cockroaches have been used as the inspiration for a new robot .
Researchers from the University of California, Berekely have developed a tiny robot that measures just 3cm by 1.5cm, and weighs less than 0.07 grams.
The bot was described yesterday in the journal Science Robotics, with collaboration from Yichuan Wu, a China-based professor.
Despite weighing just 0.07 grams, the robotic cockroach can comfortably cope with being stamped by a 60kg adult - more than one million times heavier than the robot!
Professor Liwei Lin, who led the study, said: “People may have experienced that, if you step on the cockroach, you may have to grind it up a little bit, otherwise the cockroach may still survive and run away.
“Somebody stepping on our robot is applying an extraordinarily large weight, but [the robot] still works, it still functions. So, in that particular sense, it's very similar to a cockroach."
To develop the robot, the researchers used of flexible Piezoelectric materials - special materials that expand or contract when an electric voltage is applied.
They also added a front leg so that, as the material bends and straightens under an electric field, the device is propelled forwards in a ‘leapfrogging’ motion.
Overall, this allows the tiny robot to scuttle along the ground at a speed of 20 body lengths every second. This is believed to be the fastest pace among robots of this size.
While the robot might seem like a bit of fun, it could have important uses in the near future.
According to the researchers, the robots could be used in future search and rescue missions, as they are small enough to squeeze into places where dogs or humans can’t fit.
