What Animal-Looking Robots Are Used For: Seven Examples They are listed by the BBC Science Focus Magazine

According to the author of the article, robots that look like falcons, cockroaches and other animals perform one important function. They provide an opportunity to study the behavior of real animals . Some of these developments are discussed below.

1. Robot – bat, USA . Its design consists of a system of muscles, bones and joints that allow the wings to fold and unfold. This robot was named B2. The specialists, in an article published in Science Robotics, emphasize that they used a special silicone skin 56 micrometers thick (one micrometer is one thousandth of a millimeter) to stretch it over the wings. Thanks to this, the robot can fly in much the same way as real bats, as well as penetrate hard-to-reach places.

2. Peregrine falcon, USA . Such a robot was created thanks to the idea of ​​Stanford University engineer William Roderick. “Peregrine Falcon” is able to land on irregularly shaped branches thanks to special legs and bird-like claws (on the peregrine falcon’s own legs). Such robots will allow in the future to more effectively observe what is happening during, for example, forest fires or simply follow wild animals.

3. Robot Rat, China and Japan . Such a robot will help in the study of mental disorders in mice and, accordingly, in humans. The WR-5 can interact with real rats to learn more about their behavior. According to the researchers, the robot has been able to encourage other rats to mate with a particular rat, and in the future will be able to calm rats during times of stress.

4. Falcon robot, UK . Thanks to such a robot, scientists were able to understand whether animals are selfish by nature or whether they seek to protect their group. It turned out that when attacked by a predator, pigeons line up in such a way as to help everyone in the flock fly away from the “falcon”. The results of the study were published in 2021 in an article by Current Biology.

5. Guppy robot, Germany . German engineers thus studied the behavior of guppy fish in pairs. These studies were published in Biology Letters in 2020. During the experiment, scientists moved a 3D-printed fish using magnets. The robot copied the direction and speed of the fish with which it paired, and at the same time remained at a certain distance. It turned out that the pairs coordinated and lined up better when the real fish swam faster.

6. Robot cockroach, USA . Instead of six legs, it has only four, but it also moves easily on various surfaces, just like real cockroaches. Its length is 4.5 cm, weight – 1.5 grams. The robot was created by specialists from Harvard University at the request of aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce. Tom needed devices that would easily get into hard-to-reach parts of the engine. Thanks to special pads based on electroadhesion, cockroach robots can move on any surface.

7. Robot bees and fish, Europe . In 2019, a team of engineers from four European universities was able to get Austrian honey bees to communicate with Swiss zebrafish. This happened due to the fact that robot bees and robot fish were placed in their social groups. The former used vibration and temperature changes for communication, while the latter used tail movements and various colors. After half an hour, real animals even adopted some of the characteristic features from each other: zebrafish stayed together more, and honey bees moved less.