 |
|||||
 |
Project |
 |
      |
 |
|
| A few year ago, we had the idea to build very small robots – so called micro-robots. We found friends all over Europe and decided to design small robots which are useful for handling things being so small that human eyes can't see them anymore. These small robots were not ant-like and need a lot of energy from a small battery to work. But meanwhile the technology has been developed to build robots that are really small and reliable and do not need much energy any more. They could be supplied with energy over tiny solar cells, which have the size of three | |||||
times three millimetres. So, we decided to design robots in the size of ants, and we decided not to build only one or two, but a real big swarm with about 130 robots, which are quite equal to each other. These robots are able to walk around on a so-called arena. This is a smooth platform in the size of a paper sheet (30 times 20 centimetres). The arena is illuminated with light from right above, so that the solar cells of the tiny robots can produce enough energy. The robots themselves can talk to each other with small light sources. For example, they can spread a message that some food was found, or obstacles are around and so on. The robots have small legs – even smaller than legs from some ant species – which enables them to walk on the arena's surface. And – the robots are able to navigate! They can determine their position in the arena, and in case one robot tells a story about food at a spefcfic position, he can tell exactly the coordinates of the food place.
|
|||||
 |
The energy needed by one robot is about 0,001 Watts: this is less than one ten-thousandth your bike illumination needs. The robots are able to perform tasks as ants can: they build trails, pick up things with a tiny needle, communicate and navigate. |
 |
|||
| Project started on 1.1.2004 Project terminated on 31.6.2008 Last modified: 25.03.2008 |
 |
||||
 |
|||||
 |
|
|
|
|
|