Insect-scale jumping robots enabled by a dynamic buckling cascade

Abstract

Millions of years of evolution have allowed animals to develop unusual locomotion capabilities. A striking example is the legless-jumping of click beetles and trap-jaw ants, which jump more than 10 times their body length. Their delicate musculoskeletal system amplifies their muscles’ power. It is challenging to engineer insect-scale jumpers that use onboard actuators for both elastic energy storage and power amplification. Typical jumpers require a combination of at least two actuator mechanisms for elastic energy storage and jump triggering, leading to complex designs having many parts. Here, we report the new concept of dynamic buckling cascading, in which a single unidirectional actuation stroke drives an elastic beam through a sequence of energy-storing buckling modes automatically followed by spontaneous impulsive snapping at a critical triggering threshold. Integrating this cascade in a robot enables jumping with unidirectional muscles and power amplification (JUMPA). These JUMPA systems use a single lightweight mechanism for energy storage and release with a mass of 1.6 g and 2 cm length and jump up to 0.9 m, 40 times their body length. They jump repeatedly by reengaging the latch and using coiled artificial muscles to restore elastic energy. The robots reach their performance limits guided by theoretical analysis of snap-through and momentum exchange during ground collision. These jumpers reach the energy densities typical of the best macroscale jumping robots, while also matching the rapid escape times of jumping insects, thus demonstrating the path toward future applications including proximity sensing, inspection, and search and rescue.

Pioneering healthcare with soft robotic devices: A review

“…Another design framework is based on the evolutionary design approach, which combines elements more akin to natural evolution or evolutionary algorithms. 25 Starting from a general concept of design option, several different configurations, that can be referred to as "phenotypes," are evolving through their own evolution pathways by adding the minimum number of details in each iteration and ensuring their cross-interactions to achieve the targets iteratively and incrementally through design-test cycles. In retrospect, this iterative design approach is reminiscent of evolution by natural selection, where the complexity of the functions and the vastness of the design space preclude existing mathematical frameworks.…”

“…This framework holds the potential for significant advancements in the optimization of soft robotic systems. Another design framework is based on the evolutionary design approach, which combines elements more akin to natural evolution or evolutionary algorithms 25 . Starting from a general concept of design option, several different configurations, that can be referred to as “phenotypes,” are evolving through their own evolution pathways by adding the minimum number of details in each iteration and ensuring their cross‐interactions to achieve the targets iteratively and incrementally through design‐test cycles.…”

Snapping for 4D‐Printed Insect‐Scale Metal‐Jumper

“…For instance, beetles utilize their bodies to store energy, [19] which, once accumulated to a critical level, triggers a snapping transformation, facilitating the rapid release of stored energy and enabling high jumps (Figure 1a). Inspired by such natural phenomena, Wang [7] et al developed an insect-scale jumping robot that rivals or surpasses natural creatures and existing robotic counterparts. The snapping mechanism obviates the need for high response speeds in the actuators.…”

“…Inspired by nature, soft-bodied robots exhibit high compliance, enabling them to adapt effectively to diverse environments. Recent advancements in materials and actuation mechanisms have facilitated the emulation of various movements displayed by natural organisms, including flying, [1,2] crawling, [3][4][5] jumping, [6][7][8][9] and swimming. [10,11] Among these locomotor modes, jumping has garnered considerable interest as an efficient means of traversing unstructured environments, particularly for small insects seeking survival space.…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 7 ] Copyright 2023, The Authors, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. b) Venus flytrap fast closing blades to catch prey.…”