Northwestern Engineers Invent Smallest Remote-Controlled Robot

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Northwestern Engineers Invent Smallest Remote-Controlled Robot
27 May 2022
6 min read

News Synopsis

According to a study published in the journal Science Robotics, engineers at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois invented the world's smallest remote-controlled walking robot.

It took a year and a half to make a small metal creature, said co-authors John A. Rogers,  Louis Simpson, and Kimberly Kelly Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University.

His team consisted of students of various academic levels who combined critical and creative thinking skills to design robots that look like other animals like crabs, caterpillars, and cricket. Some students found the lateral movement of the crab interesting. This was the inspiration behind the crab robot, Rogers said. The robot developed can also twist, rotate, and jump, he added.

Robots made of malleable shape memory alloys start out as flat objects like a piece of paper. He said its legs and arms were bent so that the robot could stand. According to Rogers, the crab stays on its feet until it uses heat to move it.

The robot is still in development and is being developed primarily for academic purposes, but the techniques used to make small crabs have potential, Rogers said. Small crab robots can be used to perform minimally invasive surgery and assist in the assembly and repair of small machines, he said. Rogers also challenged his team to expand the capabilities of the robot.