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Science fiction has trained us to picture robots as mechanical replicas of human beings, whether they’re trying to fit in with us or wipe us out.
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But it turns out humans aren’t the ideal model for most tasks robots are made to do. Engineers instead look to very different species for inspiration.
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A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences describes a robot inspired by the click beetle. It could solve problems much bigger than its inspiration might imply.
Tiny robots can fit into dangerous spaces far too small for humans, but they must be powerful and fast enough to avoid being crushed like bugs.
Click beetles can jump more than 20 body lengths into the air using a mechanism that’s only recently been decoded by researchers.
For their beetle bots, engineers replicated these internal mechanisms using tiny actuators in place of muscles. Because the components are so simple, they can be made to fit within the robot’s frame.