Roach-like Robots Run, Climb and Communicate with People

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

Deploying tens or hundreds of small robots at a time means that they can quickly cover a large search area. According to Fearing, “From a cost point of view, simple robots are $10 to $100 each instead of $1,000 each.”

VelociRoACHes come at a low cost low because of the SCM manufacturing process — they come from at single flat sheet that is cut and folded, rather than being built from hundreds of individual components. The robots can also incorporate many inexpensive, off-the-shelf technologies.

“Each robot is about the size of a cell phone,” Fearing says, “So whatever you can put in a cell phone can go in the robot.”

Robots, explore!

When you set 50 or 100 little robots loose to explore, you (or even your team) can’t possibly control each individually. Instead, humans give general directions, and the robots coordinate with each other via radio.

A bigger robot with more computing power can monitor smaller robots. By combining each small robot’s data (for example, input from CO2, thermal, and laser-based distance sensors), a “mother ship” robot will understand the location of each robot and its environment.

With the ability to navigate rough terrain and chart their surroundings, the robots could become useful partners to people after disasters or in other dangerous situations.

First responders, such as Fearing’s collaborator California Task Force 3 Urban Search and Rescue, will be able to guide the robots through collapsed buildings to locate people. Fearing seeks to develop a backpack filled with a complete set of robots and a tablet interface that first responders can easily carry and use at the scene of an emergency.

He also envisions small, disposable robots working in industrial settings, for example, using $1 sensors to detect hydrogen sulfide leaks in oil refineries.

Everyday companions to future humans

For the past five years, Fearing has investigated ways for collaborative robots to achieve dexterous locomotion, a major challenge for robotics. During the next five, he plans to explore analogies to dexterous manipulations, such as putting a cap on a pen with one hand.

“Can we treat these robots as small fingers? For example, if a robot is stuck in a hole, several other robots could act as fingers and pull it out,” Fearing says.

As they become more dexterous, independent and useful, robots are also likely to become more embedded in people’s lives, he says. “The combination of all these individual pieces developed already — perception, control and design — will allow robots to be as capable and smart as animals, approaching the ability of companion animals. Robots will not just be in the factory but in the everyday human environment.”

Fearing said that means robots could one day clean, cook and perform other chores at home. And they could potentially get better at those jobs through the collective experience of other robots connected through the Internet of Thing. They will also be good for doing the jobs that humans can’t, such as search and rescue missions and other tasks that involve dangerous terrain.

“When it’s dirty and dangerous, it’s good to use small, disposable mobile robots,” he says.

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