What if robots could swim, steer, and think like insects? Learn how light-controlled microbots could change how we tackle pollution and medical challenges.
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Inspired by the gliding movement of insects on the water, researchers at the University of Waterloo have created tiny robots controlled by light, opening up new possibilities for environmental and biomedical applications. The team looked at the movement of Gerridae insects, or water striders, which release chemicals through their bodies to glide on the water and use their legs to manipulate the surface, guiding their direction.
The team is moving toward creating bright, swimming robots with greater autonomous behaviour by making them respond to external cues such as light or magnetic fields. The robots, designed to mimic these insects, use liquid crystal elastomers that change shape in response to light, along with protein-based chemical motors inspired by squid biology.
When exposed to ultraviolet (UV) or visible light, the flexible legs of the robots bend either upward or downward, changing the surface tension of the water. This mimics how water striders steer, allowing the robots to move forward, turn, or pivot.
A protein from the suction cups of squids powers the devices, absorbing and releasing chemical fuel to drive their motion. The development of the tiny swimming robots builds on previous work led by Shahsavan, which focused on creating soft, hydrogel composite materials using sustainable cellulose nanoparticles from plants.
Initially conducted with two-dimensional sheets, the research has potential real-world applications, such as autonomous robots for cleaning up microplastics in water or robots for performing specialized medical procedures inside the human body.
Future efforts will aim to create three-dimensional robots that can navigate both on the surface and underwater. Researchers are also exploring alternative propulsion methods, like magnetic fields, to enhance the robots’ capabilities. The team is laying the foundation for a new generation of microrobots. With further development, these smart swimming robots could navigate environments autonomously.
Reference: Chuqi Huang et al, Self‐Propelled Morphing Matter for Small‐Scale Swimming Soft Robots, Advanced Functional Materials (2024). DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202413129