Robots That Can Walk on Water May Be Next

Once again nature provides a model for the next thing in robot development.  This time robots may do the miraculous and walk on water.  The technology is based on the surface structure of water strider’s legs.  By repelling water, the legs enable the insects to walk across the surface of water.  This property is called super-hydrophobia. 

For robots to achieve this feat, it seems to me that they would have to have some other properties.  Certainly, they would have to be very light weight.  Still, this is a fascinating idea.  Read the whole story at the link below.


Water Droplet on Super-Hydrophobic Surface: Xiao Cheng Zeng
Popular Science

Robots Borrow Hydro-Repelling Tech from Insect Legs to Walk on Water
Popular Science, NY
By Val Wang Posted 06.02.2009 at 11:19 am 0 Comments A robot that can walk on water: such a miracle is one step closer to reality, thanks to some new research that learns from the work nature has done with water striders. Walking on water may seem like

Robots Borrow Hydro-Repelling Tech from Insect Legs to Walk on Water – Popular Science
Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:35:01 GMT

Megasaurus is More Dragon Than Dinosaur

Irresistible is right.  Something about Megasuarus captured my attention.  This is not a new robot and maybe not the next thing in robots, but it is very large and very destructive, and it is new to RobotNext.  From the video I saw of this monster,  it can pick up a car in its giant claws and then incinerate the insides of the vehicle.  Other than the entertainment value of this beast, I saw it as yet another example of robots imitating nature.  Well, sort of.  In this case, a robot has supposedly been designed on the idea of a dinosaur.  To me this robot seems more like a mythical creature, namely a dragon, than a dinosaur.  However, in many ways, it does resemble a certain Japanese science fiction creature from the movies.  

Where as some robot builders are constructing robots to see how nature evolves, this robot is definately a case of robots devolving.  See this story below for the latest exploits of this robotic creature from the junkyard.

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Megasaurus was irresistible. Children, filled with wonder and awe, walked up to the robot-dinosaur hybrid. They studied it, asked questions and grinned wide. Adults balanced wide-eyed queries with their own inspection of the beast …

Megasaurus Brings Fire And Mayhem To Bristol Dragway – TriCities.com
Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:03:00 GMT

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