The small agile drones that look like insects, fly and move
Recognition: Kevin Yufeng Chen
When you hear the word “drone”, you imagine a powerful, bulky and fragile flying machine.
The MIT researchers have developed tiny agile drones that can fly, trick and mix and look like real insects. The bots can float like a butterfly, but they can’t sting like bees.
These advanced bots are made of flexible and thin rubber cylinders made of carbon nanotubes.
Unlike the inflexible actuators in a typical electric motor, bee bots are powered by a new type of soft actuator.
If voltage is When applied to the nanotubes, they generate an electrostatic force that contracts and relaxes the rubber cylinder.
Continuous expansion and contraction cause the drone to move very quickly with the power density to maintain flight.
The bee-bot speed is almost 500 times per second – 50 times faster than a hummingbird.
The smallest bird in the world, the speed of the hummingbird wings is 50–80 beats per second.
Kevin Yufeng Chen, assistant professor at MIT, said, “You can hit it when it flies and it can recover. It can also perform aggressive maneuvers such as somersaults in the air. “
