Robot Menu
|
| A Look At Miniture Robotics |
|
|
Computers and robots are inextricably linked. The CPU is after all the brain of the robot and they are both viewed as part of the IT world. And most modern robots are programmable to some degree. But whereas computers have shrunk drastically over the years, miniture robotics is only really starting to take place.
One of the problems in developing a mini robot is that, unlike their PC friends, robots have moving parts and other components which are not quite so easy to shrink. But recently miniture robotics have made some great advancements and we're now starting to see some very interesting, not to mention very cool looking minibots.
|
Epson Miniture Robotics. Meet Monsieur 2 as he's lovingly known. He's smaller than a golf ball, has eyes and complex inner workings, and relies on two ultrasonic mini motors to get around. Not only is this one of the most wanted minibots in the world, it's also one of the most advanced at the time this article was written.
|
 |
This little robot has an array of special powers, including the ability to sense when he's close to falling off a ledge, obstacle avoiding sensors, and he can also interract with other Epson mini robots too. Just take a look at this stunning video of Monsieur 2 and his friends in action. All this, and he only weighs 12 grams.
|
The World's Smallest Robot A miniture robot with a serious job to so is being developed by the scientists of the Department of Energy’s Sandia National Laboratories. This thing is outstanding. It's little bigger than a man's thumbnail and looks like something a science fiction author dreamt up.
It's hoped that these advances in miniture robotics will be able to diffuse land mines and perform other important jobs. Each minibot is powered by 3 watch batteries and weighs less than an ounce. And they have a built in 8k memory. These are just early prototypes, but of course they'll advance rapidly over the coming years.
|
A miniture robotics system you can own So far we've looked at some mini robots that aren't yet available to the public. But there's a great little robot kit that you can build at home which uses similar technology to the above. Many robot fans are enjoying building and learning from their own bug robots.
The smallest addition to the bug robots family is the Cybug Solarfly. So called because he runs on light he recieves from the sun. Measuring just 3 inches he is classed as a minibot. This is an easy kit to build and also a one that's great fun. The solar fly can 'see' and also interact with other solarfly robots.
By the time you've read this article, there could be a new and even smaller set of robots on the horizon. One thing's for sure - over the coming years we're going to see miniture robotics put to greater and greater use. And soon we'll have some absolutely tiny robots with some gigantic and important uses.
|