Watch Stanford’s µTug Microrobots Weighing 100 Grams Pull a 3,900 Pound Car

By: | March 18th, 2016

YouTube/bdmlstanford

Stanford’s Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Lab’s awesome µTug Microrobots are neat little robots capable of working together to pull heavy objects.

In the wild, you see ants working together in a similar fashion, typically to carry something like a beetle for instance.

Stanford’s µTug Microrobots are a bit stronger, and although they don’t have the stamina of ants, they can do some super impressive things.

In fact, 6 of the minibots weighing merely 100 grams, recently hauled a 3900lb car on polished concrete like it was no big deal.

Obviously, the robots are extremely strong, and it is worth noting that they weren’t standing freely. Each of the six microrobots were anchored to the ground with an adhesive taken from gecko toes.

And oh yeah, the microrobots, which can pull upwards of 52 pounds each, didn’t just pull the car by itself.

The author of the research paper was a passenger inside the vehicle for added weight.

Marshall Smith

Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.

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