An insect-scale multimodal amphibious piezoelectric robot
Le Wang, Xin Wang, Hanlin Wang, Xiqing Zuo, Chao Xu
Abstract
Miniature amphibious robots are capable of performing various tasks in complex terrestrial and aquatic environments due to their superior adaptability. However, the mobility of existing miniature amphibious robots in such environments is limited by their complex locomotion systems and single mode of motion. This work presents a novel insect-scale amphibious robot, powered by a single piezoelectric actuator. The prototype of the robot is fabricated and preliminarily tested preliminarily. By exploiting the different vibration modes of the piezoelectric actuators, the robot achieves movement in an amphibious environment. The robot employs the acoustic flow generated by the higher-order mode to achieve rapid motion at the water surface. In addition, the robot attains forward and backward motion on the ground by means of friction force between the driving feet and the ground. The findings of this study offer significant insights into the development of amphibious robots that exhibit enhanced flexibility and adaptability. These insights lay the foundation for the future applications of such robots in narrow amphibious settings.
BibTeX
@inproceedings{iros2025_aninsectscalemul,
title = {An insect-scale multimodal amphibious piezoelectric robot},
author = {Le Wang and Xin Wang and Hanlin Wang and Xiqing Zuo and Chao Xu},
booktitle = {IROS 2025},
year = {2025}
}