Insect-like robot


I’m sure most of you know about insects like the water strider that have water-repellant legs to allow them to walk on the water’s surface . It is nice to see that technology has imitated mother nature yet again as scientists in China have created a microbot that walks on water.

The robot is slightly larger than most water-striding insects as it is six inches long. It is also about 400 times heavier than a water strider, and it uses 10 water-repellent wire legs and 2 oar like legs to skim across water.

I think that it is pretty amazing that the researchers from the Harbin Institute of Technology’s School of Chemical Engineering and Technology have managed to replicate this process. It took a lot of studying in the water striders’ natural habitat, and it was time well spent.

So what can you do with something like this? Perhaps you can build a giant nautical vehicle that people can ride. Actually, that doesn’t appear to be the plan, but something like this can help scientists with water quality surveillance, water pollution monitoring, and stuff like that. Is it just me, or am I the only one who wants to ride a water-walking jet ski? Yeah, I like to imagine what to do with technology.

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