Robot catch insects

In the future, robotic shaped shapes can trap insects and turn them into electricity to run robots.

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The Dionaea muscipula catches insects using leaf-shaped leaves. When an insect touches the hairs on the leaf surface, they quickly swill to trap the insects inside. Leaves are about 1/10 of a second so prey have almost no chance of escape. The plants then kill the bait and digest their tissue.

Newscientists say that in order to create robots capable of capturing insects, scientists have to find materials that not only detect the presence of insects, but also collapse rapidly. Some experts from Seoul National University have solved the challenge by choosing materials that can restore shape. After deformation, the material will return to its original shape under the influence of force, heat or current.

The team used carbon fiber to make 'leaves' in shell shape. This leaf is connected to a resilient metal spring. When insects pea 'leaf' , its mass causes the spring to shrink, 'leaf' closes and captures prey. 'Leaf' opens after a current flows through the spring.

Mohsen Shahinpoor, a researcher at the University of Maine in the US, uses a different approach. He used thin polymer films to make the leaves and covered the gold electrodes up. When an electric current runs through the leaves, it bends to one side. Then the current reverses and leaves open.

"Humans can benefit greatly from insect robots , " says Ioannis Ieropoulos, a researcher at the Bristol Robotics Lab in the UK.

Ieropoulos and his colleagues have made the EcoBot , a robot capable of 'digesting' insects, throwing food and junk to generate electricity. Ecobots use bacteria to decompose the outer bones of insects in an electron-generated reaction. The electron moves in a circuit and generates electricity.

But since Ecobot was not able to catch the insects themselves, Ieropoulos ' team had to feed the dead flies. That's not good for an automatic robot. Combining the features of the Ecobot and the warm-up robot, the robot can capture insects and generate electricity.

"We feel very happy that the two groups have successfully built the robot ," said Ieropoulos.