This cockroach can’t be squashed no matter how hard you try

The insect in question is a cockroach robot developed at the University of California, Berkeley. The robot will be used for search operations.

Insects don’t look like other living creatures, which is why these creatures often inspire scientists to come up with new inventions. Scientists at UC Berkeley have recently created a robot that looks a lot like a cockroach. The machine is constructed in a way that makes it almost impossible to break.

The ‘cockroach’ is built from a thin sheet of polyvinylidene fluoride, which is a piezoelectric material. In other words, it changes its shape under the influence of electricity. The device contains two electrodes that transmit electricity to contract or expand the body of the robot. The front leg of the machine serves as a steering wheel. The cockroach can travel across a wide range of diverse terrains.

The device can cross a distance equal to 20 lengths of its body in a minute, which would be a record speed for a car. Despite its tiny weight - just 1 gram - the cockroach can transport small objects. The device will be used in areas that are inaccessible to humans, for example, during search and rescue operations.