Cockroach Inspires Robot Creation

Cockroaches have a "car bumper" head. Researchers hope to create a robot that mimics the benefits of this animal

When faced with obstacles like a vertical wall, most living things will avoid. But not with a cockroach, the insect actually crashed his head.

Cockroaches have a "car bumper" head, said Kaushik Jayaram of the Department of Biological Integration at the University of California at Berkeley in his publication at The Royal Society Iterface

By studying that ability, researchers hope to create a robot that imitates the superiority of this cockroach. Previously, there has also been a robot that mimics the skills of a cockroach through a narrow passage.

In his publication, Jayaram and his colleagues describe that cockroaches are shrewd in reading the terrain conditions to be traversed. The senses and the brain will synergize each other to determine the steps so as not to get caught in the obstacles.

Degan rammed his head against the wall of obstacles, cockroaches will indeed be slightly bounced. However, the cockroach is able to regulate its body so it can jump back to the surface of the vertical wall and creep better.

What is known from the cockroach, helped bring the researchers to the hypothesis that some animals take advantage of their bodies not only as a protective shield. The animal body is used to reduce the momentum of the collision and then divert it as energy.

Jayaram and his team observed 18 male cockroaches placed on a flat surface designed to culminate in a vertical wall. Cockroaches are monitored through a camera speed of 500 frames per second. Also provided software to capture any cockroach changes, either horizontally or vertically.

"In this experiment, we saw that cockroaches crawled 20 percent faster than having to set foot first before finally climbing the wall," said Jayaram as quoted by Live Science.

"In its natural habitat, a 20 percent increase can help when it comes to avoiding prey. Between life and death, "he added.

What will robots be designed to imitate this cockroach? Let's wait.