Hybrid locomotion at the insect scale: Combined flying and jumping for enhanced efficiency and versatility.

Authors

Yi-Hsuan Hsiao, Songnan Bai, Zhongtao Guan, Suhan Kim, Zhijian Ren, Pakpong Chirarattananon, Yufeng Chen

Published in

Science advances. Volume 11. Issue 15. Pages eadu4474. Apr 11, 2025. Epub Apr 09, 2025.

Abstract

Insect-scale robots face two major locomotive challenges: constrained energetics and large obstacles that far exceed their size. Terrestrial locomotion is efficient yet mostly limited to flat surfaces. In contrast, flight is versatile for overcoming obstacles but requires high power to stay aloft. Here, we present a hopping design that combines a subgram flapping-wing robot with a telescopic leg. Our robot can hop continuously while controlling jump height and frequency in the range of 1.5 to 20 centimeters and 2 to 8.4 hertz. The robot can follow positional set points, overcome tall obstacles, and traverse challenging surfaces. It can also hop on a dynamically rotating plane, recover from strong collisions, and perform somersaults. Compared to flight, this design reduces power consumption by 64 percent and increases payload by 10 times. Although the robot relies on offboard power and control, the substantial payload and efficiency improvement open opportunities for future study on autonomous locomotion.

PMID:
40203099
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 10 Apr 2025.

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