tiny robot

Engineers at the University of Michigan and UCLA have built a palm-sized frog robot weighing under 100 grams that hops using elastic energy. Twisting a coiled elastic rod stores energy that releases in a sudden snap, and two of these snapping rods propel the robot about three body lengths per second across surfaces such as wood. The work points to new spring-based locomotion for small robots.

A tiny humanoid robot that uses an Android smartphone as its onboard brain is being offered at a price of around $400, making it one of the cheapest humanoid robots available. The design appeals to hobbyists and educators because it repurposes a common phone for computing and vision instead of costly dedicated hardware, lowering the barrier to experimenting with robotics.

Researchers have unveiled a tiny robot that extends its battery life by harvesting energy through a skin-like material on its feet. The technology could allow small robots to operate for longer without recharging, a persistent limitation in miniature robotics. Details of how the power is generated and how much it improves endurance have not been widely reported yet.

Researchers at the University of Washington have developed DirectHop, a small robot capable of hopping to get around. The compact machine is drawing attention for how jumping locomotion could let tiny robots navigate terrain that wheeled or walking robots struggle with, and local coverage is introducing the device to a wider audience.

Roboticists have unveiled a tiny, frog-inspired robot capable of hopping across wet surfaces and swimming in water. The design mimics frog locomotion, combining jumping and aquatic movement in one small machine. The demonstration is drawing attention for what it suggests about the future of amphibious robotics, potentially useful in exploration, search and rescue, or environmental monitoring in wet and flooded environments.

Engineers have unveiled a tiny robot modeled on the feather star, a marine crinoid, that can spin and swim underwater using only two actuators. The design mimics the organism's feather-like arms to generate efficient propulsion with a minimal actuator count, a promising approach for low-cost, energy-efficient swimming robots and underwater exploration vehicles.