Ninety-foot drop can't stop robot cockroach
(Credit:
UC Berkeley)
Researchers in California are developing a simple robot cockroach that can be assembled in an hour, move quickly, and survive 92-foot falls.
The Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod, or DASH, is a neat example of the insectile robotics from UC Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab.
Robot cockroaches have been designed before, but DASH seems relatively simple to put together before it can be used to creep everyone out.
The 4-inch, 16-gram bug is put together by folding cardboard and polymer sheets. A DC motor runs the six legs while a servomotor bends the frame to induce left or right turns.
It can scoot along the ground at nearly 5 feet per second, which is equivalent to 15 body lengths, and surmount obstacles taller than itself.
Best of all, DASH's flexible frame allows it to keep on crawling even after falling from heights of up to 92 feet, according to the researchers.
Applications for the U.S. military, which is already developing miniature spy robots inspired by insects, are easy to imagine.
Meanwhile, DASH will be improved with different materials, better turning ability, and all-terrain mobility.
Crave freelancer Tim Hornyak is the author of "Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots." He has been writing about Japanese culture and technology for a decade. E-mail Tim. 
Don't worry- they'll have cameras on toy versions of these coming out some Christmas in the future- hordes of adolescent males will use them to look up skirts at parties...
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2003/march12/robots-312.html
- by The Wiethoff October 15, 2009 2:29 PM PDT
- Now if they could just get it to be able to make copies of itself
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