Micro Robots Can Self-Transform to Fit into Tight Spaces

Source | Science and Technology Daily

Author | Zhang Mengran

Editor | An Qing

According to a report on the 30th by the journal “Advanced Intelligent Systems”, a team of engineers from the University of Colorado Boulder has demonstrated a micro-transforming robot called CLARI, which can change its shape to squeeze through narrow gaps. Its design is inspired by the insect world and may assist rescue workers in new ways after major disasters in the future.

CLARI weighs less than a ping pong ball, and several robots can easily fit in a palm. When the surrounding environment becomes narrow, CLARI can transform from a square shape to an elongated one. CLARI has four legs, but it allows engineers to mix and match its appendages, creating some “wild” crawling robots—such as an octopus-style robot that can walk online.

In its most basic form, CLARI resembles a square with a leg on each of its four sides. However, by altering CLARI, it can compress wider like a crab or stretch longer like a centipede. In summary, the robot can transform from a square approximately 34 mm wide to an elongated shape approximately 21 mm wide.

Each leg of CLARI functions almost like an independent robot, with its own circuit board and dual actuators, allowing the legs to move forward, backward, left, and right, similar to a human hip joint. Theoretically, this modular design enables the CLARI robot to present different shapes.

CLARI is still in its early stages, but in the near future, these small robots will be able to crawl independently into jet engines or the rubble of collapsed buildings.

In future iterations, researchers will also integrate sensors into CLARI so that it can detect obstacles and respond, enabling it to “kick away” trees, grass, and other obstacles in complex natural environments, or continue moving through cracks between rocks.