back to article Watch six tiny robo-ants weighing 100g in total pull a 1,769-kg family car

Six robot ants, weighing a total of 3.5oz (99.2g), have managed to pull a 3,900-lb (1,769-kg) car by mimicking the behavior of wild ants and using a few other tricks of nature. The mighty miniature machines, dubbed Microtugs, are the brainchild of boffins at the Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Laboratory at Stanford …

  1. ulf molin

    Mighty tiny car?

    200 times 100 grams is 20 kilos. That's a feat of engineering for a full-size car.

    1. Charles 9

      Re: Mighty tiny car?

      But the car is on wheels and is being pulled horizontally, reducing the actual resistance to pulling. If a car is on a flat surface and in neutral with the brakes off, a man can push a car or tow it via a rope and get it to roll. This is about the same feat, only the pullers are a lot smaller.

      1. JetSetJim
        Pint

        Re: Mighty tiny car?

        Aye, they're only overcoming the resistance to rolling caused by the bearings in the wheels. The weight of the entire car merely influences the speed at which they can pull it.

        Good engineering, though

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Mighty tiny car?

          And tyre rolling resistance.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Mighty tiny car?

            Imagine a spherical car, on a friction-less horizontal plane, in a vacuum

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Imagine a spherical car...

              ....at standard temperature and pressure.

              1. kventin

                Re: Imagine a spherical car...

                """...at standard temperature and pressure."""

                OP required vacuum.

                hence, the only temperature and pressure would be originated by something "quantum" (another bloody quantum)

            2. Loud Speaker

              Re: Mighty tiny car?

              Imagine a spherical car, on a friction-less horizontal plane, in a vacuum

              I did. It had a Google logo on the side!

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Mighty tiny car?

          "The weight of the entire car merely influences the speed at which they can pull it."

          It actually only influences the accelleration of the car, not the speed.

          Wind resistance and other resistances that increase with speed affect the terminal speed. The weight doesn't change with speed.

          1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

            Re: Mighty tiny car?

            The weight doesn't change with speed.

            It does as the speed approaches C...

            Quick, someone ask Randall what would happen if a bunch of mechanical ants were able to accelerate a car to close to the speed of light. (I mean, I have a good idea of what would happen, but he's the master of the colorful description.)

            On a related note, I'm disappointed at how many of the pedants above omit factors such as the angular momentum of the car's wheels, air resistance, kinetic energy lost to the stretching of the tow rope, etc. (I'll let "rolling resistance of the tyres" cover a variety of factors, like simple force of rolling friction and energy lost in distorting the tires.) Merely a matter of resistance in the bearings indeed!

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              Re: Mighty tiny car?

              "I'm disappointed at how many of the pedants above omit factors such as..."

              It's not pedantic to ask for correct units.

              For example "she weighed 65 meters" just doesn't sound right.

              If you want pedantry, you can have it. Seems you already gave it a good start.

      2. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

        Re: Mighty tiny car?

        "But the car is on wheels and is being pulled horizontally, reducing the actual resistance to pulling. If a car is on a flat surface and in neutral with the brakes off, a man can push a car or tow it via a rope and get it to roll."

        The robots are also on wheels. On the face of it one would expect them to drag themselves backwards towards the car even if their brakes are on. The really remarkable thing here is the adhesion of the robot wheels which prevents this.

        1. Proto Primate

          Re: Mighty tiny car?

          Watching the video, they seem to pull, then release and move forward (the steady winching gait that is mentioned). It looks as though the robots have wheels to pull them forward when the rope is slack, then put down a sticky pad when winching.

          That area of the pad is still small, even combined across all six, so it is still impressive. At the same time, if I'm pushing on a car, the total area of my shoe that is in contact with the ground isn't all that much. I can take advantage by leaning forward rather than trying to push while standing straight, and so-on, so it's not an apples-to-apples, making these little guys even more interesting.

    2. NanoMeter

      Re: Mighty tiny car?

      Nope. IT's 100 gram in total.

      1. Gordon 10

        Re: Mighty tiny car?

        I've pushed both a car and moved 20kg bag of cement - I distinctly remember the car being harder.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Mighty tiny car?

          It isn't that hard to push a car. When I was 8 my dad couldn't start his car and told me we were going to push it out into the driveway so he could open the hood and take a look at it, but he needed to get something from in the house first. Unfortunately for him he'd already put it into neutral, so being a kid I did what kids do and tried to push it myself. Which worked great, I was able to get it moving, but once all of it was in the driveway there was a bit of downslope so I couldn't make it stop.

          Luckily he came out just as I was struggling to pull on the front bumper and make it stop and was able to jump in the open driver door and hit the brake before it rolled into the fire hydrant across the street! And I learned a physics lesson about how easy it is to get a car rolling on a level surface by pushing on it, and how difficult it is to make it stop on a non-level surface by pulling on it :)

        2. Seajay#

          Re: Mighty tiny car?

          But was the car you're comparing to a bag of cement on a perfectly smooth flat lab floor with the lowest possible rolling resistance tyres fitted and pumped up to their maximum pressure?

          1. JeffyPoooh
            Pint

            Re: Mighty tiny car?

            @Seajay - many commenting here aren't paying the slightest attention to such 'details' like the smooth polished granite floor, or thinking about what they likely did to the tires, or noticing the disclaimer on the 20x sped-up video. They're just mindlessly comparing this stunt to 'that time when I had to push-start a Buick.'

            Thank you for retaining your skeptical thinking skills.

  2. Aniya
    Meh

    Uh oh...

    ...there's a running joke between myself and my partner that ants will one day grab my mouth and run off with it (don't... ask...) and we consider this an unacceptable technological advancement!

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    All very well getting it rolling

    But they're going to be in trouble if they can't stop it.

    1. Triggerfish

      Re: All very well getting it rolling

      ....and so the robot revolution was literally crushed by a brake failure.

  4. allthecoolshortnamesweretaken

    "Nevertheless, the robots are still pulling more than 200 times their own weight, which is better than a few million years of evolution have managed to do for the ant."

    That's a bit unfair, isn't it? After all, the tiny bots mimic ants - so their design is based on evolution's try and error development process of the ant. Being both improved and enhanced by a less random approach and the use of modern artificial materials. Try to come up with the idea of something that doesn't exist yet and use chitin to make it, see how long it takes you to get anywhere.

    Nevertheless, that really is some very nifty engineering! (The demonstration also implies a knack at showmanship.)

    As long as no one hooks them up to a malevolent AI, resulting in something like a mechanised version of Phase IV, we're good.

    1. ravenviz Silver badge
      Trollface

      I don't think evolution's fair.

    2. Triggerfish

      Considering there is an ant colony spanning three continents I think the ants aren't doing to bad.

  5. lawndart

    says:

    The real breakthrough will be when four little blue-painted robots can move a car by picking it up one to a wheel.

    1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: says:

      And before it zooms off you hear: "Yan, tan, tethera!"

      CRIVENS!!

      FEEGLEBOTS!

    2. Peter Simpson 1
      Thumb Up

      Re: says:

      The real breakthrough will be obvious tomorrow morning, when the car is found up on blocks, and the "ants" are missing, along with all four wheels.

  6. Neil Barnes Silver badge

    I, for one,

    Welcome our tiny tachypod robotic car-stealing overlords.

    Perhaps they'll be able to improve the M25.

    1. GregC

      Re: I, for one,

      Perhaps they'll be able to improve the M25.

      Unpossible. the M25 is evil.

      1. Steve K

        Re: I, for one,

        A great book indeed - and includes a car stereo that turns every cassette tape into Bohemian Rhapsody ("Is this the real life - no it's just Battersea").

        A bit like the Waif-o-matic (TM) that every f@cking TV advert is using at the moment to get some 80s/90s classic songs to sound like they have been sung by the same insipid waify-girly singer.

        Aaah that's better - glad I got it off my chest.

        1. Kubla Cant
          Thumb Up

          Re: I, for one,

          @Steve K

          Emphatic upvote for the Waif-o-matic (TM)!

          1. David 132 Silver badge
            Thumb Up

            Re: I, for one,

            Upvote here for the Waif-o-Matic(TM), too.

            Quick mental exercise, at the risk of taking this thread off-topic - what's the least appropriate song you can think of for the Waif-o-Matic treatment? In other words, what song, if sung in that breathless soya-vegan-latte-coffee-shop wanna-be-folkie style, would most make you doubt the existence of a fair universe?

            My vote goes for Ace of Spades, as performed by Lemmy (RIP).

        2. Triggerfish

          Re: I, for one,

          I have to admit to being tempted in server rooms to occasionally show them a video of that bit from office space with the printers.

  7. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Go

    Obvious thought.

    What happens when the glue runs out?

    BTW that's 17832x their collective body weight or 2972x their individual weight.

    Which is pretty impressive.

    1. JeffyPoooh
      Pint

      Re: Obvious thought.

      JS "BTW that's 17832x their collective body weight... Which is..."

      ...Which is 'Scaling Laws'.

      Run the numbers for wee microbes that push and you'll get even bigger ratios.

      Elephants are rubbish at pushing and pulling, when measured by a ratio. Ants blow them out of the water.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: Obvious thought.

        "Elephants are rubbish at pushing and pulling, when measured by a ratio. Ants blow them out of the water."

        But of course elephants have a trunk up on the ants in terms of total strength. While some colonies of ants can collectively tear apart an animal with ease and then hide in a tree, one adult elephant could probably knock down the tree and then pick it up with his incredibly strong trunk. Each can be dangerous in its own way, as different groups of people can attest.

        1. Triggerfish

          Re: Obvious thought.

          Yes for example I know which one I would prefer not to have jumping up and down on me.

        2. David 132 Silver badge
          Coat

          Re: Obvious thought.

          "Elephants are rubbish at pushing and pulling, when measured by a ratio. Ants blow them out of the water."

          Elephants are also rubbish at scuttling across the ceiling. Stupid elephants.

      2. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

        Re: Obvious thought.

        Ants blow them out of the water.

        Ridiculous. Ants, having no lungs, can't blow anything anywhere.

        And elephants are rarely completely submerged, so usually you only have to blow part of the elephant out of the water. Plus there are buoyancy effects, etc.

    2. Charles 9

      Re: Obvious thought.

      What happens when the glue runs out?

      It's not glue in the traditional sense. They've been researching gecko feet for a while now due to their ability to adhere to just about anything and even crawl upside-down without assistance (insects and spiders employ different techniques: typically clawed leg tips and/or soft pads; those with the latter can climb smooth surfaces like glass). It turns out their feet are covered in nanoscopic fibers that can slip between molecular bonds and exploit van der Waals forces (a form of electromagnetic force). Now that the force is understood, scientists have been endeavoring to recreate these feet in the lab. First attempts used directionality of adhesion, but it seems they now have gotten to the point of exploiting the van der Waals force.

    3. annodomini2

      Re: Obvious thought.

      @JS19, think you have your numbers backwards.

  8. CaptainHook

    Not pulling with their wheels

    From the description in the article, it sounded like the were using ultra sticky glue on their wheels to pull the object forward by moving themselves.

    But from the video (I watched without sound so maybe the commentary made it clearer) it looks like they use the wheels to move forward, playing out thread as they go, then pull up the wheels allowing the flat plate with glue to stick to the floor, then draw the thread in pulling the object to them, repeat as necessary.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Not pulling with their wheels

      That's what I originally thought as well, but I'm not sure that really matters.

      If you set them up as 2 alternating teams you can get continuous motion regardless, and possibly also start building up momentum. I don't think you'd be braking a speed limit soon, but the ratios here are impressive :).

  9. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    Source: 'a 12g ground based robot that can pull 40N in shear force'

    Six robots x 40 N = 240 N = 54 lbs-force

    So "the car" here could also be towed around by a toddler, or a toy poodle.

    It's a shame that genuine technical accomplishments are being so prostituted by obnoxious click-bait claims. It's become the rule.

    1. Triggerfish

      Re: Source: 'a 12g ground based robot that can pull 40N in shear force'

      I'm pretty sure if you put a kid in a harness and tell him to pull the car, three things are going to happen.

      1. He will look at you blankly he hasn't learnt to speak yet.

      2. The car will stay still.

      3. Child services might want to have a word.

      1. JeffyPoooh

        Re: Source: 'a 12g ground based robot that can pull 40N in shear force'

        @Triggerfish

        It's about 240 N force, according to an original source. 54-lbs force. A couple of toddlers in harnesses and a few toy poodles in a sack, all tied to a rope and dangled over a balcony with a pulley (hypothetically only of course!), and blam, there's the exact same 54-lbs force applied as these half-dozen gidgits. All they need to do is dangle.

        A single toddler could likely exert 50+ lbs force given some unreasonable assumptions.

        Toy poodle, perhaps not.

        1. Triggerfish

          Re: Source: 'a 12g ground based robot that can pull 40N in shear force'

          Well yes, I know you are not actually needing loads of force to push a car on a flat level plane etc, However the churlishness you made your point to overriding what frankly is bloody clever, the glue is probably the cleverest part tbh, along with not actually defining the size of the poodle or toddler made me feel like I could take the mickey a little.

    2. Tikimon
      Angel

      Re: Source: 'a 12g ground based robot that can pull 40N in shear force'

      As a gent who's roll-started many manual-shift cars (with dead batteries) on level ground, I assure you that neither a toy poodle nor a toddler can perform this feat.

      Granted the "ants" are too slow to start the engine, but it's impressive nonetheless.

      1. This post has been deleted by its author

      2. JeffyPoooh
        Pint

        Re: Source: 'a 12g ground based robot that can pull 40N in shear force'

        Tikimon "who's roll-started... ...on level ground..."

        Well duh, who hasn't?

        But more than an order of magnitude in the difference...

        1) You forgot to place your subject car on a dead level polished granite floor

        2) You forgot to overinflate the tires to max pressure or higher

        3) You forgot to speed up time/video by 20x

        4) You forgot that these gidgits aren't up to roll-starting, only imperceptibly budging

        Given the numbers provided, about 50-some lbs force, anyone could roll this car AS SHOWN with one finger. It's a stunt. The technical interestingness is there, but it's been swamped by the stuntyness. As a species, we are losing our ability to view such things with even a modest amount of skepticism.

  10. You aint sin me, roit
    Mushroom

    Skynet's chariot

    "Don't tread on an ant, he's done nothing to you

    There might come a day when he's treading on you"

    1. Vic

      Re: Skynet's chariot

      "Don't tread on an ant, he's done nothing to you

      There might come a day when he's treading on you"

      Have you unplugged the jukebox yet?

      Vic.

  11. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    synchronize their footsteps

    How do they cross suspension bridges?

    1. Charles 9

      Re: synchronize their footsteps

      Just step slower than the bridge's resonant frequency. At their current pace, they're below the threshold.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: synchronize their footsteps

      To "synchronize their footsteps"

      According to a biography, old Nik Tesla once claimed that he could knock over a building with a small clockwork mechanism, tapping a beam at the building's resonant frequency. I guess he was out sick during the Physics 101 lesson on friction, energy loss, and damping.

      Smart guy, no doubt. But missing a few key neurons at the same time.

      1. Charles 9

        Re: synchronize their footsteps

        I think he's thinking more about the Broughton Bridge, also known as the Breakstep Bridge for the directions for formations of soldiers to break step while crossing. That said, the MythBusters covered both myths (Breakstep Bridge first, then Tesla Earthquake Machine).

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: synchronize their footsteps

        Yeah, well. He revolusionised electricity generation and distribution, and was ripped of by Edison as a "thank you". Perhaps he went crazy towards the end, but he was a friggin genious. Unlike everyone posting here.

        1. Doctor Syntax Silver badge

          Re: synchronize their footsteps

          "he was a friggin genious"

          I wonder what his spelling was like.

          1. This post has been deleted by its author

          2. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: synchronize their footsteps

            His spelling was excellent, it is assumed -since his handwriting was illegible.

            Luckily this is just a foreign language to me.

  12. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

    Wuh ? How ? Is there a tiny ant with a tinier whip to keep time ?

    Seriously though, I can't wrap my head around that one. How on Earth do dozens of ants in a chain synchronize their footsteps ? They can't talk, so . . . how did Mother Nature evolve a method of transmitting time signals to and by creatures with a brain the size of a grain of sand ?

    <mind blown>

    1. John H Woods Silver badge

      Re: "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

      It's amazing what a tiny brain can do --- check out a miniature spider called Portia.

      1. israel_hands

        Re: "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

        It's amazing what a tiny brain can do --- check out a miniature spider called Portia.

        Beat me to it! Another Blindsight/Echopraxia fan, I hope. ;)

        As to the original question: Insects communicate with pheremones (which are slow) and movement (which isn't so slow). An instinctive firing of mirror neurones in their tiny brains when they detect the movement of a friendly ant (i.e. he smells right) could cause them to synchronise their footsteps literally without thinking about it.

        Fuck: We're back to Echopraxia.

        1. Triggerfish

          Re: "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

          Portia spiders are great, glad they are only a few mm across though, they are like ninjas.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

        "It's amazing what a tiny brain can do"

        Check out a creature called "Trump".

        A clear indicator that a slightly bigger brain would be an advantage.

    2. Rocketist
      Boffin

      Re: "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

      They all sing in choir, and march in step. Popular ant working songs are Queen's "We are the champions" and "House of the rising sun" by, you guessed it, The Animals. Ants like the 6/8 time that goes well with six legs, but they don't like to waltz.

      Anyway, I think they do it all with acoustics.

    3. Chris G

      Re: "they form into long chains and synchronize their footsteps"

      "Wuh ? How ? Is there a tiny ant with a tinier whip to keep time ?"

      Don't be ridiculous! He's got a tiny drum!

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Happy

    Uh-oh

    There's going to be Hell to pay when the ants find out they are being outsourced. Those guys have a heck of a union!!

  14. PaulAb

    I had a gecko once

    Funny little chap, then one day whilst he was on me I tried to pull him off, .....Yep,......... I looked like a Dorling Kindersly 3d skeletal model, I can tell you I had the Germolene out that day.

    Or was it an Aligator....

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh pretty pleeeease Stanford, let me have some...

    of that glue! Must be great for sticking pictures on your wall.

  16. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    " because the car is on wheels it is easier to make it roll"

    No sh*t.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    As the Reg probably has some slight ambitions in the scientific direction (all engineers should know a bit about science), as well as being correct, let me point out that grammes and kilogrammes are not units of force (they are units of mass).

    They make absolutely no sense as substitutes for Newtons when used for something pulled perpendicularly to the gravity field (the car).

    Rewriting the article to make sense, and call out the "boffins at the Biomimetics and Dextrous Manipulation Laboratory at Stanford" for their deceptive stunt, would be my recommendation.

    1. Pookietoo
      Boffin

      Re: no sense ... perpendicularly to the gravity field

      No problem - you just clamp a pulley to the edge of the bench, and run your string over it.

  18. SeanC4S

    https://www.disneyresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/High-Performance-Robotic-Muscles-from-Conductive-Nylon-Sewing-Thread-Paper.pdf

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO0Rbx0wd3A

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