The RoboBee - Tiny Flying Robot Developed and Inspired By Biology and Insects

Engineers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a tiny robot insect, the size of a penny, that has the ability of controlled flight. The RoboBee, as it is called, weighs around 80 milligrams and has a wingspan of 3 centimeters.

The RoboBees project as it is called aims to develop technologies that can open up advances in robotics, nanoscience and micromanufacturing. One of the goals of the project is to see how to build smaller power sources or batteries as well as designing efficient control systems.

The RoboBee has the ability of controlled flight and can even hover around an area and move laterally in any direction. It is inspired by the biological structure of a fly with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings. The wings beat at 120 times a second making the wings invisible to the eye when flapping. Another aspect of the RoboBee is the materials it is made up of; plastic, lightweight carbon fiber and ceramic.

The project is still in its early stages but engineers are now looking into further evolving the technology enabling the tiny robot insects to move autonomously, be self-powered, and have tiny computer brains.

With the combination of biology, design engineering, materials engineering, and computer technology, the RoboBee can be used in the future for various applications such as search and rescue, environmental monitoring, and even be used in crop pollination. It can also lead into the development of other tiny robots that can be used in other fields such as in medicine and exploration.

Science of Terradynamics Opens up Possibility of Developing Walking Robots on Mars

Terradynamic researchers are developing small legged robots that someday may be used in scouting missions regardless of the surface. These robots are perfect for use in scouting missions as well as in exploration in environments such as Mars.

For years, robots have been imagined to be human like. Most science fiction movies have even featured androids; robots that resemble humans. But one big hurdle is the development of legs.

Most robots used now use wheels to move on surfaces. Having "legs" to travel allows robots to travers difficult surfaces such as sandy environments. Sand can clog up wheel mechanisms and hinder movement.

By developing other ways for robots to move around may develop more applications that are now limited because of factors such as sandy environments.

Biomimetic Soft Robots Mimics Nature To Dynamically Change Color

A soft-bodied robot navigating, top to bottom, an obstacle course. Unlike rigid robots, soft robots can be used to squeeze into tight spaces.
Credit: AP Photo/Harvard University, Robert Shepherd

Soft Robots are a new type of robotic structure that combines organic chemistry, soft materials science and robotics. These type of robots differ from the typical hard bodied industrial type robots used today.

Soft robots have more elasticity, are flexible and move very differently from hard bodied robots that use gears and motors for movement. The movements of soft robots are based on organisms such as squid, starfish and worms. Soft robots are outfitted with rubber tentacles or arms that move and grip objects through pneumatic networks using compressed air.

Soft robots, in color

Harvard researchers explore systems that would give 'soft robots' the ability to camouflage themselves or stand out from their environment

A team of researchers led by George Whitesides, the Woodford L. and Ann A. Flowers University Professor, has already broken new engineering ground with the development of soft, silicone-based robots inspired by creatures like starfish and squid.

Now, they're working to give those robots the ability to disguise themselves.

As demonstrated in an August 16 paper published in Science, researchers have developed a system – again, inspired by nature – that allows the soft robots to either camouflage themselves against a background, or to make bold color displays. Such a "dynamic coloration" system could one day have a host of uses, ranging from helping doctors plan complex surgeries to acting as a visual marker to help search crews following a disaster, said Stephen Morin, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and first author of the paper.

"When we began working on soft robots, we were inspired by soft organisms, including octopi and squid," Morin said. "One of the fascinating characteristics of these animals is their ability to control their appearance, and that inspired us to take this idea further and explore dynamic coloration. I think the important thing we've shown in this paper is that even when using simple systems – in this case we have simple, open-ended micro-channels – you can achieve a great deal in terms of your ability to camouflage an object, or to display where an object is."