HAMR Robot Can Walk On Top Of or Under the Water

Jul-04-18 The cockroach-inspired HAMR robot can now walk both on top of and beneath the water.

The HAMR (Harvard Ambulator MicroRobot) was originally developed by a team at Harvard University in 2013. The bot travels new terrain thanks to the addition of foot pads on all four legs that provide enough surface tension-induced buoyancy to allow the HAMR to travel on top of the water, propelling itself with the flaps on the bottom of the pads. The robot can also dive beneath the water by breaking the surface tension via an electrical current (electrowetting) to then walk on the ground beneath the water.

The robot can currently return to the surface if it can climb a gentle slope, though the team is working to develop other ways for it to break through the surface by jumping or by using gecko-inspired adhesives.

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[NEWATLAS.COM]
[SEAS. HARVARD.EDU.NEW]

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