This new advance could pave the way for smaller, lighter, and more effective micro flying robots for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and deployment in hazardous environments.
Until now, typical micro flying robots have used motors, gears, and other complex transmission systems to achieve the up-and-down motion of the wings. This has added complexity, weight, and undesired dynamic effects.
Taking inspiration from bees and other flying insects, researchers from Bristol’s Faculty of Engineering, led by Professor of Robotics Jonathan Rossiter, have successfully demonstrated a direct-drive artificial muscle system, called the Liquid-Amplified Zipping Actuator (LAZA), that achieves wing motion using no rotating parts or gears.
The LAZA system greatly simplifies the flapping mechanism, enabling future miniaturization of flapping robots down to the size of insects.
Their paper in the journal Science Robotics, shows how a pair of LAZA-powered flapping wings can provide more power compared with insect muscle of the same weight, enough to fly a robot across a room at 18 body lengths per second.
They also demonstrated how the LAZA can deliver consistent flapping over more than one million cycles, important for making flapping robots that can undertake long-haul flights.
The team expects the LAZA to be adopted as a fundamental building block for a range of autonomous insect-like flying robots.
Dr Tim Helps, lead author and developer of the LAZA system said: “With the LAZA, we apply electrostatic forces directly on the wing, rather than through a complex, inefficient transmission system. This leads to better performance, simpler design, and will unlock a new class of low-cost, lightweight flapping micro-air vehicles for future applications, like autonomous inspection of off-shore wind turbines.”
Webb Telescope Mirror Tech Improves Eye Surgery on Earth
An Alternative to Lithium-Ion Batteries
A New Kind of Transistor — A Conductive Polymer
Advancing Battery Technology: The 2022 Battery Show Preview
5 Ws of Gel Film for Water Harvesting
Integrated Modeling and Simulation of Airframe Structures in the 3DEXPERIENCE Platform
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: Making Medical Devices Smarter
How to Increase Productivity in EV Design by Leveraging Thermal Simulation
Improve Speed and Accuracy of Electronic Component Inspection with Automated Video Inspection
Medical Device Biofilms: Slimy, Sticky, Stubborn, and Serious
Building the AI/ML Data Autobahn for ADAS/AV Development
A New Kind of Transistor — A Conductive Polymer
3D Printing of Organic Electronics
GaN Schottky Diode-Based Frequency Multiplier
Carbon Fiber Structural Battery for “Mass-Less” Energy Storage in Vehicles
A Guide to Collaborative Robot Safety
Applying Cognitive Memory to Pattern Recognition
By submitting your personal information, you agree that SAE Media Group and carefully selected industry sponsors of this content may contact you and that you have read and agree to the Privacy Policy.
You may reach us at privacy@saemediagroup.com.
You may unsubscribe at any time.
© 2009-2022 Tech Briefs Media Group