I'm not getting why this is supposed to be impressive. It just looks like they lined up several tiny motors and used a small gear ratio. There's very little ant-like cooperation.
The researchers’ approach is counterintuitive. Rather than striking powerful blows like a football player making a tackle or a jackhammer, they have focused on synchronizing the smooth application of very tiny forces. The microrobots work in concert, if slowly.
The researchers observed that the ants get great cooperative force by each using three of their six legs simultaneously.
“By considering the dynamics of the team, not just the individual, we are able to build a team of our ‘microTug’ robots that, like ants, are superstrong individually, but then also work together as a team,” said David Christensen, a graduate student who is one of the authors of a research paper describing the feat. The paper will be presented this May at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm.
Well, when you dismiss something as "just [oversimplification intended to demean an accomplishment]" it does not sound very impressive, no. But rest assured it is.
I mean, Philae was just a small probe that barely sent back some signals and grainy photos from a comet. I don't see what's so impressive about that.
Does your negative impression spring from a belief that you could have done the same thing if only you had the skill, experience, idea, and ability to execute?
You don't, but only because you have experience seeing footballers playing well to compare against.
What's your point of reference for judging these robots? Unless you're well-versed in the field you probably aren't qualified to say whether or not this is good or bad work. Consequently it's not that unreasonable to accept the article at face value. It's not like you've got anything to lose.
You don't look stupid if you believe a believable story so cynically protecting yourself by saying it's unimpressive compared to, say, the latest Boston Dynamics video, isn't really very fair on the people who did the work.
The researchers observed that the ants get great cooperative force by each using three of their six legs simultaneously.
“By considering the dynamics of the team, not just the individual, we are able to build a team of our ‘microTug’ robots that, like ants, are superstrong individually, but then also work together as a team,” said David Christensen, a graduate student who is one of the authors of a research paper describing the feat. The paper will be presented this May at the International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Stockholm.