Tiny ‘rhinoceros beetle’ robot does micro-scale manipulation in extreme conditions

Engineers have designed a tiny, low-weight and cordless robot that can act independently and with ultra-high precision in all directions in some of the most extreme conditions. The robot, which the designers call "Holonomic Beetle 3" (or HB-3)—as they were inspired by the movements and anatomy of the rhinoceros beetle—combines the use of piezoelectric actuators with autonomous technology to enable micro-scale manipulation tasks that were previously out of reach for robots.