Science continues to impress with each innovation. Stanford University students have developed a robot weighing in at only half an ounce, and it has proven its capable of pulling its weight.
According to Engadget, the robots were developed to mimic geckos to support heavy loads with sticky feet, but in this scenario, they’ve been chained together in a formation to pull their force together and tow a first-generation Chevrolet Volt. The idea is similar to how ants collectively work together and move objects many times their weight.
“By considering the dynamics of the team, not just the individual, we are able to build a team of our ‘microTug’ robots that, like ants, are super strong individually, but then also work together as a team,” grad student David Christensen said.
The microTug, with its sticky “feet”, can manage to pull 45-pounds on its own. Adding five additional robots made for enough force to tow the Chevy Volt. Check it out in the video above.
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