It has wings,
a “brain,”
and is the world’s first insect-sized drone able to wirelessly take flight.
It’s RoboFly: a member of an entirely new class of flying robots.
And its specialties aren’t limited to the sky: it can navigate obstacles on land and in the water, too.
The team behind this latest innovation is from the Autonomous Insect Robotics Laboratory,
or AIR Lab, at the University of Washington.
Their founding goal was to build a new class of autonomous robots modeled entirely after insects.
Using nature as a guide for human-built systems and structures is a practice known as biomimicry.
The idea is that we can solve our difficult design problems by looking at how nature solves them.
In the case of tiny autonomous bots,
this can include things like figuring out what wing shape is most aerodynamic,
or even how to mimic the mechanical performance of natural muscles.
Biomimicry can also help us design more sustainable energy storage systems, too—
another major hurdle towards achieving full automation.
That could mean creating machines that aren’t weighed down with motors, batteries and cords…
but are instead able to power themselves!
Because so far, finding ways to power bots for long periods of time
without interfering with their mechanical performance has been hard.
But the AIR Lab team is close to cracking nature’s code.
They had their first big success in 2018, when their RoboFly became the first micro-bot to fly tether-free.
Simply by pointing a laser beam at a photovoltaic cell, or solar cell, embedded in its wings,
RoboFly was able to fly all on its own.
A built-in circuit allowed for 240 volts to exit the cell,
which a controller then sent out in waves to mimic the fluttering of a real insect’s wings.
A microprocessor “brain” was also added into the circuit board so that it could help decide how and when to flap.
All very cool—but RoboFly was still a bit one-dimensional, so in 2020 its developers gave it a reboot.
With a framework folded out of a single laminate sheet,
it can now be made without having to deal with tons of tiny parts.
It was also built not only to fly, but to walk on the ground
and drift in the water.
This ability to navigate all types of terrain and switch between different types of locomotion
got the team one step closer to its goal of mimicking its biological counterpart.
Because who wouldn’t want to be as multi-talented as a fly?!
But the biohybrid breakthroughs don’t stop there.
Researchers at Harvard University—including the creator of RoboFly—
chose another one of nature’s little helpers, the bee, as their model for a breakthrough bot named Robobee.
One of the smallest flying drones ever developed,
Robobee has undergone many exciting transformations since the team launched their project in 2009.
To be clear, tiny robotic insects capable of flying around completely independently
isn’t just a pure practice in one-upping nature.
These self-powered microbots could be hugely helpful in task-specific applications.
Specifically ones that require accessing hard-to-reach places—
like checking dangerous industrial equipment and assisting in disaster recovery.
There’s also the potential for them to act like little environmental recorders—
sniffing out fires and detecting dangerous chemical leaks.
The team behind RoboFly even wants to use it to study the behavior of the living insects
that inspired its very own creation.
But we’re still a long way off from partnering with sophisticated autonomous microbots
to accomplish tasks, because developing them is still pretty tricky.
And while RoboFly is still an improvement on all other existing systems,
it still needs some finessing before going commercial.
But practice really does make perfect—
and we can’t wait for the day when these tiny bots hit the sky, the ground, or the water running!
While robotic insects are on their way, real insects might be harder to come by.
To learn more about how one simple task can help stave off mass insect extinction,
check out this video here.
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