Hsiao Yi-Hsuan, Bai Songnan, Guan Zhongtao, Kim Suhan, Ren Zhijian, Chirarattananon Pakpong, Chen Yufeng
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Sci Adv. 2025 Apr 11;11(15):eadu4474. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adu4474. Epub 2025 Apr 9.
Insect-scale robots face two major locomotive challenges: constrained energetics and large obstacles that far exceed their size. Terrestrial locomotion is efficient yet mostly limited to flat surfaces. In contrast, flight is versatile for overcoming obstacles but requires high power to stay aloft. Here, we present a hopping design that combines a subgram flapping-wing robot with a telescopic leg. Our robot can hop continuously while controlling jump height and frequency in the range of 1.5 to 20 centimeters and 2 to 8.4 hertz. The robot can follow positional set points, overcome tall obstacles, and traverse challenging surfaces. It can also hop on a dynamically rotating plane, recover from strong collisions, and perform somersaults. Compared to flight, this design reduces power consumption by 64 percent and increases payload by 10 times. Although the robot relies on offboard power and control, the substantial payload and efficiency improvement open opportunities for future study on autonomous locomotion.
能量受限和远超其尺寸的大型障碍物。陆地运动效率高，但大多限于平坦表面。相比之下，飞行在克服障碍物方面具有通用性，但需要高功率才能保持在空中。在此，我们展示了一种跳跃设计，它将一个亚克级的扑翼机器人与一条伸缩腿相结合。我们的机器人能够连续跳跃，同时将跳跃高度和频率控制在1.5至20厘米以及2至8.4赫兹的范围内。该机器人能够遵循位置设定点，克服高大障碍物，并穿越具有挑战性的表面。它还能在动态旋转的平面上跳跃，从强烈碰撞中恢复，并进行翻滚。与飞行相比，这种设计将功耗降低了64%，并将有效载荷提高了10倍。尽管该机器人依赖外部电源和控制，但有效载荷的大幅增加和效率的提高为未来自主运动的研究开辟了机会。
