Robotic insects are nothing new. We have covered a bunch of them here in the past. Researchers at EPFL have come up with an ultra-light robotic insect that can survive being flattered by a flyswatter. It has soft artificial muscles that enable it to move at 3cm per second.
The DEAnsect can be hit by a fly swatter or squashed by a shoe and still operate. Researchers at EPFL developed tethered and untethered versions of this. These robots can recognize black & white patterns to follow any line drawn on the ground.
[HT]