Insect‐scale fast moving and ultra‐load‐carrying robot

Abstract

AbstractThe load capacity of small robots plays a crucial role in practical applications. Drawing inspiration from biological load‐carrying mechanisms, a crawling robot based on piezoelectric bending is proposed. It is an insect‐scale piezoelectric‐driven crawling robot with a load capacity of 100.4 times its weight, which is the highest measured among published insect‐scale robots. The robot was designed and fabricated in a monolithic manner, enhancing the assembly efficiency of the robot. It weighs only 0.68 g and has a length of only 40 mm. The robot can achieve rapid movement and jumping by using two different driving methods. Its maximum forward speed is 7.77 BL/s (body lengths per second), and it can reach a forward speed of 1 BL/s under a load of 41.6 g, the maximum load of the robot is 68.24 g. It can move rapidly, climb slopes, traverse ground obstacles, and pass through pipes, similar to an insect.