Robotic grasshopper leaps as high as 27 times its height
By Matthew Miller, Editor in Chief, EDN.com -- EDN, June 26, 2008
Researchers at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland have built a 5-cm-tall robot that takes its design cues from grasshoppers and locusts and can jump as high as 1.4m. The 7g critter uses a 0.6g pager motor to slowly charge two torsion springs and then explosively releases that energy.
The device's battery can power 320 jumps at 3-sec intervals. Before you start entertaining visions of new thrill rides or worrying about swarms of lethal-attack hoppers, however, check out the video clip below; the researchers may have mastered takeoffs, but landing still appears to be a bit of a problem. (Note: The clip has no sound.)
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A robotic grasshopper created by researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland.; EDN Tech Clips deliver technical depth and tutorial design information for engineers involved in analog circuit design, power management, embedded-system design, board-level design, signal integrity, and more. |
