hamrNo, the bugs that I am referring to here have nothing to do with surveillance devices, but rather, a digital representation of those pests such as cockroaches (where robotic versions of it have been created in the past) which many of us absolutely love to loathe. Not only that, such bug-sized robots have been developed in such an agile manner that they are able to scurry along at speeds of up to 37 centimetres per second. The latest creation is known as the the HAMR, or Harvard Ambulatory MicroRobot for short.

With the implementation of the PC-MEMS fabrication process that was used for the RoboBee, HAMR was developed using 23 layers of flat carbon fibre, polymers and ceramics, where all of those have been laser cut and assembled into a 3D shape thanks to a technique that has been inspired by pop-up books. The HAMR robot tips the scales at 1.3 grams and comes with a quartet of legs instead of the traditional half dozen. Since the HAMR robot is too tiny to use more traditional locomotive electronics, the legs are powered by half a dozen tiny and yet powerful pizoelectric ceramic actuators, and it will have to be tethered to a power source at the moment so that it can move about and around at the previously mentioned speed.

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