Researchers from the University of Tokyo have introduced a concept so scary that it can haunt our nightmares: robotic spiders that can both crawl and fly.
Real spiders have already figured out how to fly. They can weave ultra-light silk parachutes with their nets and soar in the wind. This allows them to cover great distances much faster than walking on eight legs, and also makes it easier to traverse difficult terrain. But is it possible to realize this approach with a robot?
To make a flying spider robot, it is necessary to equip it with active equipment. The problem is, equipping a multi-legged robot with enough servo motors and batteries to navigate individual limb segments is already a huge undertaking. An impressively agile robot dog from Boston Dynamics, SPOT weighs almost 70 pounds in its lightest configuration. Adding enough motors and thrusters to make it fly on top of that will result in an even heavier robot, which will affect how long it can run before recharging.
The University of Tokyo seems to have accomplished this seemingly impossible task with a different approach. The 33-pound robot, which they call SPIDAR, uses light but relatively weak servos on its articulated limbs, which aren’t strong enough to stand on its own. This keeps it light enough to lift without a jet engine, but means the spider has to make a steady jump just to stay upright.
SPIDAR’s leg movements are assisted by 16 maneuverable thrusters, four on each leg, which can be used to rotate, move and position the robot’s eight leg segments. When all thrusts and leg movements are properly coordinated, SPIDAR is able to stand up and walk, but is currently moving very slowly and very loudly.
All pointed downwards, these 16 thrusters also generate enough lift to fly the SPIDAR, and it can fly for a total of nine minutes or walk for up to 18 minutes before depleting its batteries. That’s not enough time for practical work yet, but as the video below shows, SPIDAR is an unrefined prototype at this point.
You can watch how SPIDAR works in the video below:
