Wei Yue (left) a graduate student at UC Berkeley and Liwei Lin, an engineering professor. Credit: Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering Credit: Adam Lau/Berkeley Engineering
Engineers in Berkeley, California have achieved pioneering robotics and deployed the world’s smallest wireless flying robot.
With just 9.4 millimeters in diameter and weighing just 21 milligrams, this tiny bee-inspired bot represents a huge step in miniaturized technology. Developed by a team from Berkeley’s Mechanical Engineering Department, the robot exhibits incredible agility, hovering, changing direction in the air, and accurately impressing small targets.
The newly published paper explained the inspiration for the invention that originated from nature and how bees behave in the way they fly from flower to flower. “The bees show amazing capabilities such as navigation and hovering, indicating that artificial robots of similar scales struggle to replicate,” said Liwei Lin, a professor of mechanical engineering and a co-author of the study. Tiny Robot’s design overcomes the key challenge of microrobotics: Power.
The smallest decommissioned flying robot does not require a battery
Traditional batteries and electronic devices are too heavy for such a small size. Instead, the team employed an external magnetic field to drive the robot. Two miniature magnets within a propeller-like structure repel each other under alternating currents, causing lifting, allowing for controlled flight.
This invention opens the door to a variety of uses, from exploring the close spaces of search and rescue missions to conducting scientific research in limited environments, not to mention military applications. Fampingsui, a recent Berkeley PhD alumni and co-first authors highlighted the possibility.
Currently, the robot does not have an onboard sensor to feed back information about its location, but the team wants to develop more so that it can carry the camera and is more autonomous.
