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There are numerous robots designed quite frequently to cater to various applications. Right from navigating to assisting the doctors in surgeries, robots have done it all. Off late, biomimetic robots, wherein the engineers study the animal kingdom and how the structures and muscles work, and then translate them into servos and actuators. What is the end result? Well, we get robots that are inspired from nature, and are particularly efficient at what they do. On that note, let us have a look at top 10 animal-inspired robots of 2023.
This animal-inspired robot developed by Stanford engineers, is inspired by the household gecko. It is a wall climbing robot that could attach itself to any kind of surface, from wood, to metal, to glass. What is worth mentioning is the fact that it shows how the different parts of an animal come together to make it work.
Taking bats into account, whose wings can change shape during flight, with shoulders, legs, elbows and wrists all moving at once, the researchers have come up with bot bat. This bot that weighs about 93 grams, offers more battery efficiency than any other drone of its size. Wondering how? Well, the movement of the flying amplifies the energy of the actuators, requiring them to put in less effort in the first place.
HAMR (Harvard's Ambulatory Microrobot), is cockroach-inspired and there is so much more to it that you shouldn't miss out on. Not only can this bot scuttle along the ground, but can also walk on the surface of the water. Simply put, HAMR is a demonstration of how microbots can use the concept of surface tension. This is one among the most lightweight animal-inspired bots that you might come across.
VelociRoach, designed by the Biomimetic Millisystems Lab at UC Berkeley, is one among those robots that can navigate extremely complex terrains, and move over obstacles that are larger than them through the use of legs. Hence, this turns out to be quite helpful in search and rescue operations. VelociRoach is known for moving its legs at an incredibly high frequency.
So far, NASA has many rovers to Mars. However, the case isn't that simple in the case of Europa. This is for the very reason that for the robotic probe to function, it needs a power supply, and the solar energy is not that abundant. It gets even worse to harness from within an ocean, below an ice shell. This is why NASA is planning to send a robotic squid to Europa, with electrodynamic tentacles that extract energy from locally changing magnetic fields.
MantaDroid is yet another interesting animal-inspired robot that deserves every bit of your attention. Designed by the researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS), this underwater robot is inspired by the manta ray. Why is this bot so famous? Well, that's because of the way it can effortlessly swim through even turbulent seas. Each fin of this bot is powered by only one electric motor, and the flexibility of the fins interact passively with the fluid dynamics of the water, to provide additional propulsion.
The name itself speaks for itself. However, this robot is not what you might be presuming – pollinating flowers. The RoboBees stand the ability to dive from the air, into the water, and continue to swim underwater as well. Well, that's not all – all this using the same wings!! How amazing is that? The RoboBee overcomes the immense surface tension and can jump straight out of the water and into the air.
The Robird is a robot-drone developed by Clear Flight Solutions, that is good for controlling other birds. Look Wise looks and flies exactly like a real raptor would, which makes the natural birds react like they would in the presence of a real predator. As far as the functionality is concerned, the Robird is used to clear runways from birds so flights can take off safely, and to keep birds away from industrial or agricultural areas.
