Harvard’s cockroach-inspired robot shrinks to the size of a penny

HAMR-Jr can run about 14 body lengths in a second, which makes it one of the smallest and the fastest microrobots on the planet.

It weighs just 0.3 grams. (Harvard)

Researchers from Harvard University, who had designed a cockroach-inspired robot called Harvard Ambulatory Microrobot (HAMR) have reduced the size of the robot to a penny.

The newly designed robot called HAMR-JR measures 2.25 centimeters in body length and weighs about 0.3 grams, which is a fraction of the weight of an actual penny. It can run about 14 body lengths in a second, which makes it one of the smallest and the fastest microrobots on the planet.

What makes HAMR-Jr special is the fact that it can perform almost all of the feats of its larger-scale predecessor. “Most robots at this scale are pretty simple and only demonstrate basic mobility...We have shown that you don't have to compromise dexterity or control for size,” Kaushik Jayaram, a former postdoctoral fellow at SEAS and Wyss and first author of the paper, said in a statement.

Interestingly, the researchers used the same manufacturing process -- PC-MEMS (printed circuit microelectromechanical systems) -- that they had used for making HAMR and Robo Bee. “We proved that this process can be applied to basically any device at a variety of sizes,” Jayaram added.