Robotic Ants -- Micro robots share the load

Archimedes pointed out that with a lever he could move the world. He most likely would have been surprised to learn that a team of six microrobots, weighing just 3.5 ounces in total, could pull a car weighing 3,900 pounds. These six tiny 17 gram robotic ants can pull a 1,800 kilogram car. The MicroTug robots, developed by researchers at Stanford University, have a pulling-power equivalent of six humans pulling the Eiffel Tower. David Christensen, a researcher from the lab behind the work, said the robots and their teamwork were based on that of ants, who work together to move large objects. A group of researchers at the Biomimetics and Dexterous Manipulation Laboratory at Stanford University has been exploring the limits of friction in the design of tiny robots that have the ability to pull thousands of times their weight, wander like gecko lizards on vertical surfaces or mimic bats. The researchers’ approach is counterintuitive. Rather than striking powerful blows like a football player making a tackle or a jackhammer, they have focused on synchronizing the smooth application of very tiny forces. The microrobots work in concert, if slowly.