Researchers at MIT develop tiny robot that can fly as fast as a bumblebee
Researchers at MIT have developed a flying robot that can fly as fast as a bumblebee and could, someday, help with search-and-rescue missions.
The tiny robot, which measures 4 centimetres and weighs under 1 kilogram, can fit through tight spaces and may be able to notify rescue teams of any survivors who might be buried under rubble after an earthquake.
According to Kevin Chen, an associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, who co-authored a paper on the robot, similarly small-scale robots could also be used to inspect tight spaces like turbine engines, and assist with pollination in vertical farms.
Micro-robots have long been studied as potential tools for environments that are dangerous or inaccessible to humans. Some robots can crawl like a cockroach, others can hop like a springtail.
These robots, however, are typically fragile, difficult to control, and threatened by unpredictable air currents. By comparison, Chen said the robot his team has developed at MIT is easier to control, in no small part due to its AI-powered controller.
Earlier this year, Chen's team developed a similar, bug-sized robot that weighs less than a paperclip. The robot could fly 100 times longer than even earlier versions, but the controller they used to fly it was hand-tuned by a human, which made it difficult to account for uncertainties and limited the robot's performance.
Now, the team has completely redesigned the controller using a deep learning model that could help "predict" the behaviour of the robot and plan the optimal series of actions to safely follow a trajectory.
In other words, the controller learns how the robot is likely to move in different situations and adjusts its wing motions in real time to keep it stable and on course, rather than relying on fixed, pre-programmed commands.
With the help of the new controller, the team demonstrated that the robot could complete 10 consecutive somersaults in 11 seconds, even in windy conditions.
"A somersault is a good demonstration of scaling physics," said Chen, noting that somersaults are among the most challenging manoeuvres.
"If a robot can perform a somersault, then it has the capability to turn very fast, which is handy for resisting wind gust disturbance," he said. "It is also fun to point out that aerial insects occasionally perform somersaults in air."
Chen was drawn to the field of micro-robots precisely because he wanted to understand insect flight, which involves "very complicated physics."
To develop the flying robot, his team extensively studied flapping-wing aerodynamics in order to mimic the wing motion of insects like flies and bumblebees. The resulting robot can flap its wing 330 times per second, which is comparable to its biological counterpart, the bumblebee.
While scale is a big part of the robot's unique selling point, the team is currently developing a version that is slightly bigger (6cm by 6cm). The reason, said Chen, is to increase the robot's payload so it could carry more sensors and batteries.
Realistically, said Chen, the robot is about five to ten years away from being deployed in a search-and-rescue mission.
Other recent advancements in robotics include a bio-hybrid robot that moves via mycelium and a tiny cat-shaped robot that sits on the lid of cups to blow on drinks.
The photography is courtesy of MIT.
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