By Doug Page
A flying robot the size of a housefly is not only providing researchers with a new way to study flight dynamics, it could eventually give search and rescue squads a powerful new way to locate victims in places like the rubble of destroyed buildings or mine cave-ins.
The first-of-its-kind device, developed at Harvard’s Wyss Institute, has maneuverability characteristics similar to bees and flies, making it potentially useful for navigating into extremely tight spots.
“We envision applications that include search-and-rescue operations to find human survivors under collapsed buildings or other dangerous environments,” said researcher Kevin Ma, of Harvard’s Microrobotics Laboratory.
Robot bees
Ma said the flying robot, called RoboBee, could also be useful in environmental monitoring, to perform such tasks as rapidly distributed sensor modules to track trace chemicals or other properties of the environment, or in the pollination of crops, functioning the same way the now-struggling honeybee populations do for agriculture around the world.
“These applications would require a very capable flying robot that can navigate around complex environments very confidently,” Ma said.
The robots would also require sensors tailored to the applications.
“For example, to find human survivors, we would need to develop tiny heat sensors to detect the heat signature of humans,” he said.
Friendly flies
The RoboBee is loosely modeled after flying insects that functionally use two flapping wings to generate lift. Flying insects in general exhibit astounding aerial abilities, considering how small they are.
“The way they fight wind gusts, dodge obstacles and threats, and zero in on their targets appears easy for them, but as biologists have learned, insect flight is an incredibly complicated phenomenon,” Ma said. “As scientists and engineers, we are interested in understanding it, replicating it, and maybe one day using it for our own purposes.”
Ma’s team has succeeded in recreating the wing motions of insects on their RoboBee, which flaps its wings almost exactly like actual flies. Each wing goes through a large stroke angle — almost 120 degrees — and the wings flap 120 times a second, approaching the flapping frequency of real flies.
Work remains before the device is ready for prime time. RoboBee does not yet have a battery; right now, it’s tethered to a hair-thin wire that provides power. Ma said he’s waiting for the emergence of an energy-dense miniaturized battery technology that will fit on the tiny robot.