An insect-scale soft robot has fast relative speed of motion, high load-carrying capability, and exceptional robustness. Mobility and robustness are two important features for practical applications of robots. Soft robots made of polymeric materials have the potential to achieve both attributes simultaneously. Inspired by nature, this research presents soft robots based on a curved unimorph piezoelectric structure whose relative speed of 20 body lengths per second is the fastest measured among published artificial insect-scale robots. The soft robot uses several principles of animal locomotion, can carry loads, climb slopes, and has the sturdiness of cockroaches. After withstanding the weight of an adult footstep, which is about 1 million times heavier than that of the robot, the system survived and continued to move afterward. The relatively fast locomotion and robustness are attributed to the curved unimorph piezoelectric structure with large amplitude vibration, which advances beyond other methods. The design principle, driving mechanism, and operating characteristics can be further optimized and extended for improved performances, as well as used for other flexible devices.

中文翻译：

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昆虫规模的快速移动和超鲁棒的软机器人

昆虫规模的软机器人具有快速的相对运动速度，高承载能力和出色的耐用性。移动性和鲁棒性是机器人实际应用中的两个重要特征。由聚合物材料制成的软机器人具有同时实现这两个属性的潜力。受自然界的启发，这项研究提出了一种基于弯曲的单压电晶片压电结构的软机器人，其相对速度为每秒20体长，是已发表的人工昆虫规模机器人中测量最快的。该软机器人采用多种动物运动原理，可以承载负荷，爬坡，并且具有蟑螂的坚固性。在承受成人脚步的重量（大约比机器人重100万倍）之后，系统得以幸存并随后继续移动。相对快的运动性和鲁棒性归因于具有大振幅振动的弯曲单压电晶片压电结构，其超越了其他方法。设计原理，驱动机制和操作特性可以进一步优化和扩展以提高性能，并可以用于其他柔性设备。