{"id":2300,"date":"2026-09-27T01:14:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:14:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-09-27-frog-snap-robot-en\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T01:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-09-26T16:14:00","slug":"2026-09-27-frog-snap-robot-en","status":"publish","type":"briefing","link":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/briefing\/2026-09-27-frog-snap-robot-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Slow twists turned into sudden jumps in an elastic-rod robot"},"content":{"rendered":"

2026-09-27 01:14 KST<\/strong><\/p>\n

Researchers predicted and repeatedly reproduced how a bent rod releases stored energy suddenly when its ends are slowly rotated past a critical geometry.<\/p>\n

The robot peaked at 3.21 body lengths per second on wood and averaged 2.46 across six surfaces, compared with 0.79 for a rigid-legged control.<\/p>\n

How a small motor makes a large motion<\/h2>\n

The motor does not deliver the full push directly. It slowly winds the rod, which stores energy until a rapid shape change releases a short, strong burst.<\/p>\n

What was tested<\/h2>\n

The prototype crossed wood, cloth, acrylic, leather, grass and sand and climbed steps. With flexible fins it swam at about 0.5 body lengths per second, while unequal limb timing allowed turns.<\/p>\n

\"Slow
This AI-generated image explains the topic; it is not a photograph of an actual event, observation or field site.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is not a rescue robot yet<\/h2>\n

Tests used controlled surfaces and small obstacles. Battery life, mud, waves, impact durability and useful sensor payloads were not validated for field deployment.<\/p>\n

What comes next<\/h2>\n

Geometry suggests the principle could scale to millimeters, but fabrication is a separate challenge. Fatigue tests and trials across rough land-water transitions must show whether speed and efficiency persist.<\/p>\n

Primary source and independent checks<\/h2>\n

Primary source: Science Advances paper<\/a><\/p>\n

Institutional explanation: UCLA explanation<\/a><\/p>\n

Independent check: University of Michigan independent institutional check<\/a><\/p>\n

Read in other languages<\/h2>\n

\ud55c\uad6d\uc5b4<\/a> \u00b7 English<\/a> \u00b7 Espa\u00f1ol<\/a> \u00b7 \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e<\/a> \u00b7 Ti\u1ebfng Vi\u1ec7t<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An 11 cm, 98.2 g robot used the snap-through of helical elastic rods to hop across six surfaces and swim. It remains a research prototype and does not yet prove millimeter-scale or field-ready performance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":[],"class_list":["post-2300","briefing","type-briefing","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing\/2300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/briefing"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/briefing"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/onepress.co.kr\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}