{"684058":{"#nid":"684058","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Tiny Fans on the Feet of Water Bugs Could Lead to Energy Efficient, Mini Robots","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA new study explains how tiny water bugs use fan-like propellers to zip across streams at speeds up to 120 body lengths per second. The researchers then created a similar fan structure and used it to propel and maneuver an insect-sized robot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe discovery offers new possibilities for designing small machines that could operate during floods or other challenging situations.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EInstead of relying on their muscles, the insects about the size of a grain of rice use the water\u2019s surface tension and elastic forces to morph the ribbon-shaped fans on the end of their legs to slice the water surface and change directions.\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOnce they understood the mechanism, the team built a self-deployable, one-milligram fan and installed it into an insect-sized robot capable of accelerating, braking, and maneuvering right and left.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study is featured\u003Cstrong\u003E \u003C\/strong\u003Eon the cover of the journal \u003Cem\u003EScience.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/em\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/coe.gatech.edu\/news\/2025\/08\/tiny-fans-feet-water-bugs-could-lead-energy-efficient-mini-robots\u0022\u003ERead the entire story and see the robot in action on the College of Engineering website.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Researchers built an insect-sized robot that uses surface water and collapsable propellers as an idea to improve fast-moving machines that can operate in rivers or flooded areas. "}],"field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study explains how tiny water bugs use fan-like propellers to zip across streams at speeds up to 120 body lengths per second. The researchers then created a similar fan structure and used it to propel and maneuver an insect-sized robot.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe discovery offers new possibilities for designing small machines that could operate during floods or other challenging situations.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new study explains how tiny water bugs use fan-like propellers to zip across streams at speeds up to 120 body lengths per second"}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2025-08-21 20:11:55","changed_gmt":"2025-10-24 19:13:09","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2025-08-21T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2025-08-21T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"677766":{"id":"677766","type":"image","title":"water-bug-hero.jpg","body":null,"created":"1755807401","gmt_created":"2025-08-21 20:16:41","changed":"1755807401","gmt_changed":"2025-08-21 20:16:41","alt":"a water bug standing on water","file":{"fid":"261702","name":"water-bug-hero.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/21\/water-bug-hero.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2025\/08\/21\/water-bug-hero.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1405312,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2025\/08\/21\/water-bug-hero.jpg?itok=uud43Bki"}}},"media_ids":["677766"],"groups":[{"id":"142761","name":"IRIM"},{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"152","name":"Robotics"}],"keywords":[{"id":"194701","name":"go-resarchnews"},{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"},{"id":"39521","name":"Robotics"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71881","name":"Science and Technology"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr\u003ECollege of Engineering\u003Cbr\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}