ROBOT INSECT FLIGHT MAKES A SPECTACULAR CONTROLLED

After 12 years of research, scientists at Harvard University (Cambridge, USA) were able to develop a miniaturized robot insect called Robobee capable of producing controlled flights. The first, published May 3, 2013 in the journal Science under the title "Controlled Flight of a Biologically Inspired, Insect-Scale Robot."


With a weight of only 80 mg, with two thin wings beating almost invisibly at a frequency of about 120 beats per second, the anatomy of Robobee is directly inspired by the biology of the fly.

To design Robobee Robert Wood and his team had to remove many obstacles. Among these, there was the issue of the engine. Indeed, it is possible to equip robots normal size with electromagnetic motors, such a strategy is however not possible in the design of a miniature robot the size of Robobee.

To solve this problem the engine, scientists at Harvard University have developed tiny "muscles" piezoelectric, which is in the form of ceramic band expanding and contracting after application of an electric field. A winning technology choice, since it is this feature that allows Robobee to move in the air, beating its wings at high speed.

As an articulation, U.S. scientists have made tiny plastic hinges, they were incorporated into the body of carbon Robobee. At the end of each joint, one wing controlled independently.

What applications might arise from the design Robobee? Actually, there are many. The creators of Robobee suggest that insect robot could realize surveillance operations risk environments (such as places containing volatile chemicals, located in factories): a distributed monitoring system is to ie based not on a single insect robot, but a whole fleet of these, for example, could be extremely effective. Other applications have been devised, such as the use Robobee for the search and rescue, or for agricultural activities (the focus of assistance to crop pollination techniques, for example).

Pending the advent of these applications, technical barriers remain however to be lifted. Starting with the power system Robobee, which is currently the least hardy. And for good reason, since at present the prototype created by scientists at Harvard University receives its power ... a very thin auxquel power cable is connected. Indeed, no storage solution small enough to be embedded on the robot body energy has so far been found.

Another improvement that Harvard scientists wish to make soon: Robobee develop a miniaturized computer brain, allowing it to overcome the computer that currently control its flight.

Previous flying insects have obviously been designed in the past by other laboratories, as AirBurr for example, created by the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. But these prototypes are generally much larger than Robobee (AirBurr weighs 300 g, while Robobee weighs only 80 mg). Besides their flight is often random, instead of being controlled by a third body as is the case Robobee.

References of the study:
Kevin Y. Ma Pakpong Chirarattananon, Sawyer B. Fuller, and Robert J. Wood. Controlled Flight of a Biologically Inspired, Insect-Scale Robot. Science, 3 May 2013: 603-607 DOI: 10.1126/science.1231806
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