A flying robot with wings controlled by an electric field instead of heavy motors and gears easily outperforms insect muscles
technology
February 2, 2022
A small robot with wings like an insect can fly and generate more power than a similar sized animal in nature.
Most flying robots, whether they use wings or propellers, have motors and gears and transmission systems to connect the components, but these can stress the robot and cause it to fail.
Now, Tim Helps of the University of Bristol, UK, and his colleagues have developed a small robot that uses an electric field – and a droplet of oil that increases the field’s strength – to flap its wings directly, eliminating the need for a electric shock is avoided engine or transmission system. Helps and his team tested the mechanism for a million wing beats and found that it had a consistent power output that was slightly better than an insect muscle of the same weight.
“I’m always very happy when we achieve a power density that is better than nature,” says Helps. “It’s a rare thing because nature does an amazing job.”
This close connection between the source of movement – technically called the actuator – and the wing itself can also be found in nature. “If you look at some insects, like a bee, and you cut down the middle and look at the wings and the muscles, they’re connected almost directly,” says team member Jonathan Rossiter, also from the University of Bristol.
The tiny flying robot
DR. TIM HELPS – UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL
The winged robot lacks on-board electronics or controls and flew while attached to a nylon cord, so it was largely a proof of concept. For use in real-life situations, miniature electronics would need to be built in without adding too much weight to allow the robot to generate enough energy to take off.
But the wing mechanism could still be a useful part of future flying microrobots, says Raphael Zufferey of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne. “It’s one of those core building blocks that you need in every flying vehicle. Any kind of technology … that allows us to build new types of flying robots will have a powerful impact.”
Journal reference: Science Robotics, DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.abi8189
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