Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) present Picotaur, a microrobot the size of a fingertip that can not only walk and spin, but also play soccer… sort of. Its legs are powered by multiple actuators, giving it a variety of locomotion options.
Thanks to several gait patterns, it can walk like other hexapod robots, similar to cockroaches, but it also has the ability to propel itself from the ground to overcome obstacles. This 7.9 mm tall robot was created using a 3D printer using two-photon polymerization, a process that has previously been used successfully in the laboratory to build various small robotic systems such as microbots, microgrippers, microswimmers and microsensors.
In the past, micro-manufacturing technology was limited to the manufacture of micro-devices in two-dimensional spaces, such as in the semiconductor industry. But now we have the ability to expand the design space from 2D to 3D. We can apply this process to develop other small robotic systems for various applications, such as micro-grippers for gripping and transporting small objects for surgical applications and micro-manufacturing applications,” said Sukjun Kim, Ph.D. Alumni, Mechanical Engineering at CMU.
