We’ve made machines that can float on water, and machines that can walk on water, but until now, robots or automata that can leap suddenly into the air from the surface of a pond have eluded us. Now, a group of engineers, led by a researcher at the Seoul National University, have created a machine that can jump on water. Rather impressively so, in fact.
To patch this gaping hole in machine locomotion, the engineers studied the mechanics behind the water strider, an insect that can easily jump upwards from a pond. It’s an ability that’s poorly understood in insects in general, so trying to recreate it in machines has the beneficial side effect of improving our understanding of the insects themselves.
The trick, according to an analysis of a high-speed film of water striders, is to push down on the water with the maximum velocity that the surface tension can take. The further the insect’s leg pushes down, the greater the surface tension that builds under the leg and the better the upward jump. But if the leg pushes too far, the meniscus—the curved water surface—can’t take it and gives way, allowing the leg to sink.
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