Next-gen hopping robot is the smart flea we didn't know we needed
Next-gen hopping robot is the smart flea we didn't know we needed
Engineers at the University of Washington have developed DirectHop, a hopping robot inspired by the flea's energy-efficient jumping mechanism. The robot can jump up to 50 times its body height and is controlled via an external power source. Future versions may include onboard batteries and sensors, with the goal of creating an independent robot-explorer for tasks like environmental monitoring and inspection.
DirectHop represents a novel approach to energy-efficient hopping in robotics, inspired by the flea's ability to store and release energy for powerful jumps. The robot's design allows for precise control over jump height and distance, overcoming limitations of traditional spring-loaded mechanisms. However, it currently relies on external power and lacks onboard sensors, limiting its autonomy.
Source: New Atlas — Robotics · Read original article ↗
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Publisher-reported claims, with original evidence. These results have not been independently verified by RoboSignal.
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robot size
1
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that can be up to 50 times their body height. This is a very energy-efficient way to move around, and energy-efficiency matters a lot in robotics. The researchers named their new project DirectHop, which gives away the main idea: it’s a hopping robot. It fits in the palm of a hand, weighs just 1 gram, has a tiny electric motor, three folding legs, and a protective cage. Fitting all of that into such a tiny body soun
Open source S3robot weight
1
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that can be up to 50 times their body height. This is a very energy-efficient way to move around, and energy-efficiency matters a lot in robotics. The researchers named their new project DirectHop, which gives away the main idea: it’s a hopping robot. It fits in the palm of a hand, weighs just 1 gram, has a tiny electric motor, three folding legs, and a protective cage. Fitting all of that into such a tiny body soun
Open source S3jump height
≤50
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that can be up to 50 times their body height. This is a very energy-efficient way to move around, and energy-efficiency matters a lot in robotics. The researchers named their new project DirectHop, which gives away the main idea: it’s a hopping robot. It fits in the palm of a hand, weighs just 1 gram, has a tiny electric motor, three folding legs, and a protective cage. Fitting all of that into such a tiny body soun
Open source S3robot cost
10
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tation, so it fully relies on human operators. The research team is already working on improvements, including onboard solar cells and a battery, retractable feet to adjust the jumping angle and minimize bad landings, plus a camera and electronics for navigation. The ultimate goal is to create an independent robot-explorer. In the future, the researchers estimate that each robot could cost around US$10. Instead of se
Open source S9
- paper: not_reported
- code: not_reported
- weights: not_reported
- dataset: not_reported
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Automatically extracted; no manual editorial approval recorded.
that can be up to 50 times their body height. This is a very energy-efficient way to move around, and energy-efficiency matters a lot in robotics. The researchers named their new project DirectHop, which gives away the main idea: it’s a hopping robot. It fits in the palm of a hand, weighs just 1 gram, has a tiny electric motor, three folding legs, and a protective cage. Fitting all of that into such a tiny body soun
Open source S3
ount of energy, making the height and distance of each jump very difficult to adjust. DirectHop takes a different approach. By changing the electric current going to its motor, researchers can precisely control how much energy goes into each jump. DirectHop is able to jump higher than a standard stair, which is pretty impressive for a robot its size. But what’s even harder to achieve is actually the opposite: making
Open source S5
very small, controlled jumps. The new mechanism can successfully handle those as well. The interesting part is that the robot doesn’t actually jump by pushing off with its legs like insects or frogs do. Instead of pushing off the ground, the motor essentially pulls the robot upward, with a pulley and two strings helping to launch it. Once the jumping problem was tackled, the next challenge was landing. As you can ima
Open source S6
gine, the robot doesn’t always land perfectly on its three feet. That’s where the motor helps again. It shifts the robot’s center of gravity, making it twitch until it rolls back onto its feet. Undergraduate research assistant Keo Hice controls DirectHop via a nearby laptop Mark Stone/University of Washington The protective cage also helps with awkward landings. It's made from flexible carbon fiber rods 0.25 mm in di
Open source S7
tation, so it fully relies on human operators. The research team is already working on improvements, including onboard solar cells and a battery, retractable feet to adjust the jumping angle and minimize bad landings, plus a camera and electronics for navigation. The ultimate goal is to create an independent robot-explorer. In the future, the researchers estimate that each robot could cost around US$10. Instead of se
Open source S9
Source：New Atlas — Robotics · newatlas.com