The world's first Micro Machines insect successful test flight

Flies are a world-class flight master, fixed circled in the air, or dramatically change the direction of the high-speed flight. Harvard University from flies and bees inspired after ten years of research and design, and finally developed the world's first machine insects Robobee of successful test flight at 5/2. Throughout the development process are also published in the journal Science.


Robobee weighing only 80 mg, about the same size with a copper dish, a wingspan of three centimeters long, skinny and elastic wings, flying wings 120 times per second, the frequency is almost the similar with the flies, so quick that the naked eye can not look. Flight test in the laboratory, this machine insects show a stable and controllable flight, hovering in the air and along a predefined route acceleration flight can soar continuously for more than 20 seconds. And it is interesting, about 19 mW power consumption Robobee flight the translated and flies consumption.
Production Robobee project is almost unprecedented and extremely gigantic, in order to fracture through the submillimeter (sub-millimeter) scale restrictions, in addition to the need to combine different areas of research, innovation in materials science must also keep pace with the imagination of these scientists, is why this machine completed insects from the hair think it takes ten years of effort. For example, a pair of ultra-skinny Robobee miniature wings, made of piezoelectric material by an applied voltage can be converted to mechanical stress, when energized voltage in constantly quick switching, allows flexible and rapid beating of wings .

To overcome difficulties and future applications while Robobee the need to be overcome in the future part of two ways, First, problems with electrical power, existing power lightest but also 0.5 g is Robobee weight several times, so it can only use an ultra-light the copper wire Robobee power. The other is the "brain", because even a microchip on the size of the phone is too big, it is concerned.

If in the future the power supply and the brain can be solved, Robobee will be widely used in human life: trace amounts of chemicals such as environmental monitoring, testing environment; assist search and rescue personnel to conduct search and rescue work; also agricultural production can help solve problems that result The bee populations substantially disappeared caused crop pollination; addition, there is worry Robobee will be used to be used as government surveillance tool of the people. Array of applications under these Hanchuang decade scientists biggest hope is actually very easy - desire to know the way of insect flight.

image by Google image
original news by daily news biz news (newspaper)