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Tiny Robots At Play, In Words And Pictures

Posted by timothy on from the smaller-than-a-pardon-worthy-donation dept.

justin sane writes: "The NY Times has an article about the one of the tiniest functioning robots to date.[Note: free reg. req. [?] -- t.] They faced numerous problems and build the robots layer by layer with photolithography on expoxy compounds. The microprocessor is raw (i.e. without a package to save on size). The batteries are the biggest part by far (not surprisingly). There is an MPEG of one in action as it's speed 20 in/min velocity but alas it just looked like a photo album on my M$ player--still the photos are cool. No word if they are working on a port of Embedded Linux that can run the 8k memory space though. That would be my next step, then ... Python ;-)"

11 of 55 comments (clear)

  1. In other words, by hawk · · Score: 3

    You want to build a Beowolf with these things . . .

    :)

    hawk

  2. Can anybody tell me... by joshv · · Score: 3

    why this things needs a microprocessor? All it seems to do is move forward, not much bit munching needed for that. It did not even appear to do anything even as simple as tracking a light source.

    Maybe they are running some sophisticated AI code like the following:

    while (battery_PCT()>10) {
    move_forward();
    }

    -josh

  3. Re:Collaboration by commanderfoxtrot · · Score: 3

    Surely the aim of this research is to see how small it is possible to go and then make it larger?

    Now that it has been shown how to make such a very small robot, the techiniques &. learnt can be used to make more practical robots the next size up, with more power, commmunications and logic systems.

    --
    http://blog.grcm.net/
  4. Can you imagine... by Goldberg's+Pants · · Score: 3
    The show "Robot Wars" using these? They'd have to put it on Pay Per View, the matches would last hours.:)

    ---

  5. Re:Hardening and radio capabilities, then... space by andr0meda · · Score: 3


    Frankly I don`t think putting things like this on the Marsian soil is going to give us a propper mapping of the surface. The terrain they can cover is practically unsignifficant, I suspect they`re not really protected from crashing into holes or gliding from slopes, and their broadcasting resources are limitted. It`s probably better if we could put bigger and more robust wheeled vehicles on the surface since they have better navigation capacities. But I agree that the distributed peer 2 peer broadcasting approach would be a nice angle :)

    --
    With great power comes great electricity bills.
  6. Why batteries over other energy sources? by A1kmm · · Score: 3

    15-20 minutes is probably not enough time for the robot to last in the tasks advocated in the article for it to complete, so why not use some sort of alternate energy source - perhaps electromagnetic induction from an "energy transmitter"? It only needs a relatively small energy intake, and it will only move relatively small distances from where it is deployed.

    --
    X-Has-Sig: yes
  7. Hmm, this seems familiar by s00bf153 · · Score: 3

    Anyone remember Inner Space. God, this thing could cure my bad back.

  8. Forth Is Still Good For Something??? by Baldrson · · Score: 4

    Amazing that Forth might still be good for something. I didn't think they made memories that small anymore. I mean 8K bytes is about what Western Electric was limiting the Viewtron videotex terminal to in 1981 when I tried to get it's ROM burned with Forth so we could dynamically download graphics macros. Efficient use of RAM as well as 1200bps modem bandwidth. (This is, in fact, what gave rise to Postscript subsequent to our visit to Xerox PARC.)

    --
    Seastead this.
  9. Collaboration by Nyarly · · Score: 4
    When I was in school, one of my profs had done his dissertation on the idea of robotic collaboration without communication. Essentially, the idea was that robots could use much the same logic they use to navigate an arbitrary set of obstacles to co-operate to acheive a task without needing to communicate anything. Prof's name was James Jennings, and he pretty much made my upper level education worthwhile.

    It seems that this sort of behavior would be ideal for these little bastards. I mean, they're cute and all, but radio transmission would zap their batteries, and coordinating communication would eat all their memory. But a small growth in memeory size would be enough to manage the sort of navigation algorithms I recall.

    Unfortuantely, mass produced these things are supposed to run a couple hundred USD, each. Tough to rationalize many handy applications for that. Even cat entertainment seems to be a little overkilled by that sort of investment (although they do seem ideal, don't they? Maybe not fast enough.)

    Ushers will eat latecomers.

    --
    IP is just rude.
    Is there any torture so subl
  10. You just know... by MWoody · · Score: 4

    Somewhere, in a bunker deep within Area 51, a team of scientists is already working on a tiny little gun to stick on this thing. Ah, well, it's a sure way to get funding.
    ---

  11. Hardening and radio capabilities, then... space by MikeCamel · · Score: 5

    We finally seem to be getting down to a decent size for planet exploration. Harden them up a bit, and drop them over a terrain. They shouldn't need much cushioning, as they'll weigh very little.

    Give them a single burst radio broadcasting capability, so they can report back, and you're away. Cheap, light, low volume - how many can you fit in a Mars probe? This should be great way of exploring new habitats.

    One alternative to just dropping them is to land, and then spew them out - that way you get a lot more detailed information about a small area, and can control them so that if one of them finds something interesting, they can all go and investigate. Next step, of course, is to allow them to collaborate, and decide to do it themselves.