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Bug-sized robots could be next generation spies
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.
- Adding a new dimension to the world of creepy-crawlies, researchers at the
Sandia National Laboratories have developed mobile, electronic micro-bugs -
sensor-equipped robots the size of a nickel.
The lab sees the devices as potential environmental monitors or antiterrorist
agents - capable of silently scampering under a door, quietly rolling into a
corner and eavesdropping on whatever is going on inside.
Only about 1/4 cubic inch in size - essentially as small as a large beetle -
they are the tiniest of autonomous and untethered robots, Sandia researchers
say.
"They're small enough to sneak under most doors, yet they have a pretty
robust little (computer) chip in them," said developer Doug Adkins, a Sandia
mechanical engineer specializing in sensors. He said the onboard computing
power is about equivalent to the first small desktop computers.
One of the project's other scientists, Ed Heller, said he believes "this
could the robot of the future. "It may eventually be capable of performing
difficult tasks that are done with much larger robots today," he said, adding
they might become useful in "locating and disabling land mines or detecting
chemical and biological weapons."
Currently, the "minibot" is only outfitted with temperature sensors, but
Adkins said a team of six Sandia researchers is developing a suite of
microsensors that might be attached to its many computer data ports, starting
with a miniature microphone and radio transmitter.
Researchers could equip it with a microcamera, but Adkins said current
technology is not sufficiently miniaturized "to allow us to do streaming
video.
"But we might be able to capture a single frame," he said, noting that
onboard video could come later as technology advances.
Equipped with a computer microprocessor, and about 8,000 bytes of read-only
memory, or ROM, the minibots weigh less than an ounce. They might be used in
a variety of intelligence-gathering roles - including sniffing out illegal
drugs, chemicals or explosives.
Sandia expects to be able to remotely control the devices. With that
capability, researchers believe they would be ideal for crawling through
pipes or ducts or scanning the rooms of a target building for evidence of
human activity or unique chemical signatures.
One option is an infrared sensor that could detect motion.
"We think they could be useful in hostage situations or in detecting
dangerous chemicals," said Adkins.
The limiting factor, Adkins said, has been power. The current source: three
of the smallest, off-the-shelf watch batteries.
"One of the things we learned," he said, "is which batteries really last the
longest." Sitting atop tiny tanklike treads, the minibots are hardly speed
demons, traveling about 20 inches a minute. And they only have enough power
for about 15 minutes of operation.
Adkins used a computer program to design the robots. Their bodies were
produced directly from his computer drafts through Sandia's
"stereolithography" manufacturing process.
Through rapid prototyping, it manufactured the robot bodies microlayer by
microlayer, using a laser to instantly melt and apply the material in a
precise, computer-driven procedure. The process allows the production of
complex, single parts using strong, lightweight materials.
Agile enough "to turn on a dime and park on a nickel," the robots have a
simple drive mechanism: two small motors, like those used to move camera
lenses back and forth.
Adkins said they might be most productive if researchers can get them to
communicate with each other and work in swarms, relaying their findings back
to a manned station a safe distance from the danger.
The minibots are the latest in a series of smaller and more versatile robots
developed at Sandia in the last several years - a learning process that has
taught many lessons, the researchers say.
For instance, the minibots originally were designed with four wheels, but
these got bogged down on the smallest of obstacles and didn't have good
traction.
Adkins switched to mobile tracks, a tiny version of those used by military
tanks, which allowed the robots to negotiate rougher terrain, like carpet.
But even with that, he confessed, "They might get hung up in shag carpet."
Lawrence Spohn writes for The Tribune in Albuquerque, N.M.
