You might be already au fait with the 7 gram grasshopper, which was already written about. It is capable of jumping a distance of 1.4 meters. Now a wing has been added to the same grasshopper by the researcher’s at the EPFL’s Laboratory of Intelligence Systems. The wings are made of carbon, mylar and shape memory muscles.

It is quite interesting that the wings are fully controllable and the robot is able to steer itself towards sources of light. The robot is armed with a pager motor and a bunch of reduction gears that it uses to charge two actual springs, and release them to catapult it upward. It also has a small on board battery that will provide enough energy for about 300 jumps at intervals of 3 seconds.

The robot is still in the process of development, and as of now, it doesn’t have any brain cells. The researchers are still working on it to enhance its functions. When it is fully integrated, it will also possibly have a pair of jumping legs and solar panels. The wings will also be eventually retractable and extendable. It will be fun to own this robot and travel around with it.

Via: Bot Junkie