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8 Legged Robotic Micro Ant from Sweden
Steinar Bang writes "
Swedish researchers at Kungliga Tekniska Högskolan, are creating
micro-robots and micro-motion systems as micromachined 3D silicon
structures. They have created an
8-legged robotic micro ant able to carry 50 times its own weight
on its back.
" Cool looking 'bots - if you like this type of thing check out the bionic rats.
Yes, ants have 6 legs and spiders have 8. But methinks that's not the point. Ants are social creatures, and their strength and versatility is in their group behavior. Spiders tend to be solitary predators, so despite the number of legs it might be more accurate to compare these mechanical micro-critters to ants. Particularly if they're intended to work together with some kind of "hive-mind" coordinating their actions.
If they had a hive-mind and could fly, they'd be robotic bees or wasps.
If they had a hive-mind and were designed for demolition or some other destuctive purpose, they'd be robotic termites.
As it is, the description of them as robotic ants seems reasonable.
A=Other ants can carry 10-20 times their own body weigth.
B=Leaf cutting ants can only carry 12-14 times their own weight.
C= There is no known species of ant which can carry more than 50 times its body weight. I would mark you redundant...but redundancy is within your own statements. By statements A and B, we already know that C is true....so you didn't need to include it.
Sorry...i just felt like picking at your little niggles.
Heh, I pasted those 2 directly from a web page, I didn't even notice that they said exactly the same thing, thanks for the boot to the head.>:)
Kintanon
Check out JoshJitsu.info for Brazilian Ji
Of course, then somebody has to come up with a practical application for the really small buggers. Like a 1 cm CCD on its back...
"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped." --Elbert Hubbard (1856-1915)
Please excuse me whilst I get on my soapbox
Nuclear power is the cleanest[1] safest[2] form of power we have on land, and on the sea it's so much nicer than having to store tons of fuel, and for a submarine it means you don't have to surface.
But mainly you were referring to the atom bomb. The A-Bomb saved lives, both Japanese and Allied. Think about the price both of Allied lives and of Japanese if we would have had to do an invasion.
I understand that the Revisionists have probably gotten to you, though... America always is the evil force in the universe. The A-Bomb was wrong, because it was powerful.
Why do the revisionists screw with history so? Why is the US the bad guy and Japan the good guy? Do we remember which country shot first? That little thing called Perl Harbor? You know, when the countries wern't at war?
I'm not saying that the US government is always right, or that we have always done the moral thing, but please, don't believe everything you're tought in schools.
[1] Nuclear waste is pretty small volume-wise and, unlike chemical (oil, coal) power facilities it turns into non-toxic stuff with time. And it doesn't destroy nearly so much land as hydroelectric... although after everything gets flooded Hydro power is pretty good...
[2] When was the last time you saw a nuclear disaster that hurt or killed people in the US? Then compare to the number of explosions and fires and such with other types of power.
-- Erich
Slashdot reader since 1997
Is it less than 50 times?
of course I thought I remembered learning in elementary school that insects have 6 legs and spiders have 8? Or has that changed in the 15 years since I was a second grader?
Funny and I thought Perl == Paid employment recently located
Of course the power supply is the big problem here. I don't know how much current these babies draw, but somehow I think the required battery would exceed the maximum load in itself. Why can't batteries develop like computers damnit... :-/
Otherwise, integrating the control system onto the die could hardly be that hard. (Maybe expensive... but not like this research is cheap anyway...)
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'bots walking around my house will be squised like any other insect walking around my house, completely mercilessly. Or maybe I'll make my own bot-spiders which catch the ants and destroy them. :)
OFTC: By the community, for the community
Ok, so call me a blind monkey. It says it draws 200mW per leg at maximum warp. 1.6W total. With a 1.5V battery, you got about 1A. Few batteries of the appropriate size can even deliver that much current at all, let alone sustain it more than a very short time. We're talking 5 min here... and no payload. :-( Still way kewl tech though.
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