World’s smallest: Bee-mimicking flying robot uses magnets to aid in search, rescue
Baku, April 1, AZERTAC
A team at UC Berkeley has developed the world’s smallest wireless flying robot, inspired by bumblebees, according to Interesting Engineering.
Weighing just 21 milligrams and measuring under a centimeter in diameter, the miniature drone can hover, change directions, and accurately hit small targets.
Applying an external magnetic field causes the robot to spin, generating enough lift to help the robot fly. The system can be used for surveillance, environmental monitoring, and search-and-rescue operations.
“This flying robot can be wirelessly controlled to approach and hit a designated target, mimicking the mechanism of pollination as a bee collects nectar and flies away,” said Liwei Lin, Distinguished Professor of Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley, in a statement.
Robots require electronics for flight control and a power source, such as a battery, to fly. These components can be difficult to incorporate into tiny, light machines. The UC Berkeley team overcame this problem by controlling the flight path and powering the device with an external magnetic field.
Inspired by bees, known for their exceptional aeronautical skills like navigation, hovering, and pollination, the team designed a flying robot that outperforms other artificial robots of similar scale.
The robot has two tiny magnets and is designed like a little propeller. These magnets are drawn to and repelled by an external magnetic field, which spins the propeller and creates enough power to lift the robot off the ground. By adjusting the magnetic field’s strength, the robot’s flight path may be accurately controlled.
According to the team, at 2.8 cm in diameter, the next largest robot with similar flight capabilities is nearly three times the size of the new flying robot.
“Tiny flying robots are useful for exploring small cavities and other complicated environments. This could be used for artificial pollination or inspecting small spaces, like the inside of a pipe,” said Fanping Sui, who recently completed a Ph.D. in engineering at UC Berkeley and a co-author of the study, in a statement.
Currently, the robot can only fly passively, lacking onboard sensors to detect its position or trajectory. Unlike airplanes or advanced drones, it can’t adjust its movements in real-time. While capable of precise flight, sudden environmental changes like strong winds could push it off course.
According to researchers, they plan to add active control in the future, enabling real-time adjustments to its position and attitude,” said Wei Yue, co-first author and a graduate student in the Liwei Lin lab.
The robot also needs a strong magnetic field from an electromagnetic coil for operation. However, further reducing its size to under 1 mm, about the size of a gnat, could make it light enough to respond to weaker fields, like those from radio waves.
Alongside the bumblebee-inspired flying robot, researchers have developed a cockroach-inspired robot that can scurry across surfaces and withstand the weight of a human step. Additionally, new swarming robots are being designed to collaborate like ants, performing tasks beyond the capabilities of individual units.
Measuring around 5 millimeters, these robots can crawl, roll, spin, and connect to form chains or arrays. Their cooperative abilities could prove useful in minimally invasive surgery, where multiple robots could be injected into the body to form stents, remove clots, or complete other medical procedures with enhanced precision and efficiency.
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