Water Strider A miniature water strider robot Goal: To develop a microrobot that takes advantage of the surface tension of water to stay and maneuver on water with power efficiency and agility. Approach: To understand the physics of water striders to model their characteristics of floating on the surface of water. We are using micro-actuators and DC Motors to simulate water strider movements. We are also investigating different materials and leg shapes to improve the ability of the robot to float on water and maneuver. Benefits: Water strider robots will be small and relatively efficient. Because it is on the surface of water and light, the robot will be highly agile and can reach inaccessible areas for many different applications. Videos: Video 1: Water Strider Robot with Footpads Video 2: Water Strider Robot with Wire Legs Video 3: Water strider robot moving across the surface Members: Onur Ozcan, Metin Sitti Former Members: Yun Seong Song, Franklin Chung, Justine Rembisz, In the News: Associated Press Article featured in: Forbes.com, Yahoo News, and Wired. In Turkish - MSNBC, e-kolay, sabah.com, Milliyet.com. Papers: S. H. Suhr, Y. S. Song, S. J. Lee and M. Sitti, "Biologically Inspired Miniature Water Strider Robot," Proceedings of the Robotics: Science and Systems I, Boston, U.S.A., 2005. pdf Y. S. Song, S. H. Suhr and M. Sitti, "Modeling of the Supporting Legs for Designing Biomimetic Water Strider Robot," Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, Orlando, U.S.A., 2006.pdf Y. S. Song and M. Sitti, "Surface Tension Driven Biologically Inspired Water Strider Robots: Theory and Experiments," IEEE Trans. on Robotics, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 578-589, June 2007. Y. S. Song and M. Sitti, "STRIDE: A Highly Maneuverable and Non-Tethered Water Strider Robot," Proc. IEEE Robotics and Automation Conference, Rome, Italy, April 2007.

[Moving Water strider robot prototype] [Tetherless Water strider robot prototype] [Conceptual CAD model of the peizoelectric actuator based water strider robot. A, B, C and D are the supporting legs; E and F are the actuating legs; G is the body with possible onboard electronics; H is the middle actuator; and I and J are the right/left actuators.]