This new hybrid RoboBee dives, swims and explodes out the of water
Harvard scientists have developed a next-generation hybrid RoboBee that can fly, dive into water, swim, propel itself back out of water, and land safely. The RoboBee is 1,000 times lighter than any previous aerial-to-aquatic robot, and could be used for numerous applications, from search-and-rescue operations to environmental monitoring and biological studies, researchers said. New floating devices allow the multipurpose air-water micro-robot to stabilise on the water’s surface before an internal combustion system ignites to propel it back into the air, they said.
“This is the first micro-robot capable of repeatedly moving in and through complex environments,” said Yufeng Chen, a former graduate student at the Harvard John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) in the US. “We designed new mechanisms that allow the vehicle to directly transition from water to air, something that is beyond what nature can achieve in the insect world,” said Chen, first author of the research published in the journal Science Robotics.
By combining theoretical modelling and experimental data, the researchers found the goldilocks combination of wing size and flapping rate, scaling the design to allow the bee to operate repeatedly in both air and water. Using this multi-modal …read more
