Fig. 7: The autonomous insect-scale robots with signal detection capability.

a Autonomous clawer for physical signals detection. In this experiment, we integrate a temperature and humidity sensor in the control circuit of the soft inchworm crawler and then command the robot to navigate through a narrow and complex pathway. Among the pathways, we create two constrained chambers (A and B) with one of them to have a high humidity environment and the other to have a low temperature environment. The detected humidity and temperature signals are plotted in the figures, indicating an efficient sensing capability. b Equipped with an ethanol gas sensor, this insect-scale soft robot was navigated through a narrow channel into an enclosed chamber housing an open container of liquid ethanol. Upon entering the chamber, the robot’s sensor promptly detected the ethanol vapors, successfully transmitting this chemical signal externally. Source data for (a) and b are provided as a Source Data file.