Micro Robot GoPro: 0.25g, 60-Degree Rotation, 6-Hour Battery Life!

Or like this:

Many people are curious about the perspective of insects, so what does the first-person view of an insect look like?

Is it somewhat similar to the GoPro perspective of humans?

Researchers led by Professor Shyam Gollakota from the University of Washington’s Computer Science and Engineering department have developed a micro wireless controllable camera that can be directly mounted on insects, just like in the movie “Ant-Man.” You will also be able to get a glimpse of the world through Ant-Man’s eyes.

This micro camera weighs about 250 milligrams (about one-tenth the weight of a playing card), installed on a mechanical arm that can rotate 60 degrees, transmitting video streams to smartphones at a speed of 1 to 5 frames per second. By placing it on an insect, humans can see the first-person view of the insect.

Previously, there have been various practices about mimicking insect vision. For example, in 2013, researchers created a digital camera that could mimic insects, particularly the bulging eyes of fire ants and bark beetles.

The camera can capture an almost infinite depth of field with a 160-degree wide field of view, meaning all areas of the photo will be in sharp focus. The tiny dome is covered with 180 micro-lenses, each capturing a unique angle of the object.

Researchers combined photodiodes and elastic micro-lenses into thin silicon sheets and stretched them into hemispheres. These images are recorded in their original form on a computer but can be printed if needed.

The researchers were inspired by the advanced eyes of arthropods, which include crustaceans, spiders, and insects. Their dome-shaped eyes are packed with multiple tiny eye elements covered with corneal lenses. The first digital camera prototype closely resembled the compound eyes of fire ants, which have only 180 optical units called ommatidia.

The above is still limited to mimicking insect eyes to create advanced cameras. What if we let insects carry a GoPro?

The first requirement for the camera that insects will carry is, of course, micro and low power. Typical small cameras (like those used in smartphones) use a lot of features to capture wide-angle, high-resolution photos but cannot work on insects. Although the camera itself is light, the battery required to support it makes the entire system large and clunky, preventing the insect (or insect-sized robot) from moving around.

To mimic animal vision, researchers used a micro ultra-low-power black-and-white camera that can sweep the entire field of view with the mechanical arm. When the team applies a high voltage, the arm moves, causing the material to bend and the camera to shift to the desired position. Unless the team applies a greater force, the arm will maintain that angle for about a minute before relaxing back to its original position. This is similar to how people can only hold their heads turned in one direction for a short time before returning to a more neutral position.

Researchers connected the movable system to the backs of two different types of beetles, known to be able to carry more than half a gram of weight.

Researchers ensured that the beetles could still move normally while carrying the camera, allowing them to traverse gravel, climb slopes, and even climb trees.

In the system, researchers added a small accelerometer to detect when the beetle was moving, so it would only capture images during that time, similar to a dashcam.

Researchers stated, “If the camera continuously captures images without using the accelerometer, we can record for one to two hours before the battery runs out. By using the accelerometer, we can record for six hours or longer, depending on the beetle’s activity level.”

“Vision is very important for communication and navigation, but achieving vision at such a small scale poses significant challenges. Therefore, before we started working, wireless vision was impossible for small robots or insects.”

After achieving breakthroughs with insects, researchers also designed the world’s smallest ground-powered autonomous robot with wireless vision capabilities using their camera system.

This insect-sized robot utilizes vibrations to move, consuming power almost equivalent to that required by a low-power Bluetooth radio.

The team is excited about the potential of lightweight and low-power mobile cameras, indicating that the applications of this system could range from biology to exploring new environments.

The research group hopes that future camera versions will require less power, and if a solar-powered version is developed, “Mom will no longer have to worry about my battery running out.”

However, it is worth considering what would happen if this camera were used in other fields, as there could be “privacy risks,” and it remains to be seen whether the robots would be held accountable.