Scientists create flying robot that can hover and turn, as quick as an insect

Scientists around the world have been trying to build a robot, which can fly like insects and birds, for a longer period. Now, it seems they have achieved the target as insect-inspired flying robot has been created by a bunch of scientists and researchers at TU Delft from the Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory.

Scientists have reportedly developed a novel autonomous flying robot that looks like an insect. It was specifically developed to improve the understanding of how fruit flies control aggressive escape manoeuvre of the sort, deployed to avoid the swatter. The insect flying robot has been named as DelFly Nimble, has phenomenal flight qualities which open up new drone application.

Matej Karasek, the designer of the robot told PTI, “The robot has a top speed of 25 kilometres per hour (km/h) and can even perform aggressive manoeuvres, such as 360-degree flips, resembling loops and barrel rolls,”

“Moreover, the 33-centimetre wingspan and 29-gram robot has excellent power efficiency for its size, allowing five minutes of hovering flight or more than one km flight range on a fully charged battery,” he said,

The purpose of making this insect-size flying robot was to control both power and control fight using its wings with the agility needed to operate in the real world. According to the report, This insect flying robot’s flapping wing beats 17 times per second, it not only generates the lift force needed to stay airborne but also control the flight via minor adjustments in the wing motion.

“When I first saw the robot flying, I was amazed at how closely its flight resembled that of insects, especially when manoeuvring,” Professor Florian Muijres from the Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands told PTI.  “I immediately thought we could actually employ it to research insect flight control and dynamics,” he said.

The maximum speed for this insect-flying robot is 25 km/h, and it can perform aggressive manoeuvres such as 360-degree flips that are like loops and barrel rolls. The wings of the robot are 33cm and it weighs 29 grams. That size and weight give power efficiency which allows the robot to stay for five minutes at one place. If the battery is fully charged it can fly more than 1km of range.

“The robot in this study builds on established manufacturing methods, uses off-the-shelf components, and its flight endurance is long enough to be of interest for real-world applications,” reports PTI.

Also read: Ranchi based techie develops ‘Rashmi’, India’s first Hindi speaking humanoid robot