Watch this robot fly like a real insect

[nir]

 

 

The DelFly is a super light, super agile robot that flies like a real insect. By using a quad-wing flapping system, this odd little bot can flit, hover, and land like a fruit fly.

 

Part of a research project at the Delft University of Technology, this is the latest version of the DelFly and it can now perform high speed maneuvers including rapid turns.

 

From the release:

The so far unmatched combination of performances makes the lightweight (and thus inherently safe) natural-looking robot ready for many real-world tasks. At the same time, the high agility, combined with the programmability of the robot, opens up a new way of studying insect flight dynamics and control during high agility maneuvers, such as rapid banked turns observed in fruit-flies when evading predators.

The robot flies by rolling in the air and it has four wings to control three axes of flight. It flies left and right by changing the way each wing flaps.

 

The researchers, Matěj Karásek, Florian T. Muijres, Christophe De Wagter, Bart D.W. Remes, and Guido C.H.E. de Croon, wrote about the DelFly in an article for Science called “A tailless aerial robotic flapper reveals that flies use torque coupling in rapid banked turns.”

 

Source

[Matrix]

It four wings flap 17 beats per second. The DelFly is capable of hovering and flying in any direction using only subtle adjustments to its wing motions. It zips about at 25 km/h and can perform flips, barrel rolls, and 180-degree maneuvers.

“Moreover, the 33 cm wingspan and 29 gram robot has, for its size, excellent power efficiency, allowing 5 minutes of hovering flight or more than a 1 km flight range on a fully charged battery,” said Matéj Karásek, lead designer of the robot and principal author of a study of the drone that was published in September’s issue of Science.

The DelFly Nimble is not the first of its kind. MAVLab has been building insect-like robots for over a decade. The scientists studying them see potential applications in areas other than research, but the Nimble is the first to provide the maneuverability to make those applications practicable.

“Insect-inspired drones have a high potential for novel applications, as they are light-weight, safe around humans and are able to fly more efficiently than more traditional drone designs, especially at smaller scales,” said Professor Guido de Croon, a scientific leader at MAVLab. “However, until now, these flying robots had not realized this potential since they were either not agile enough – such as our DelFly II – or they required an overly complex manufacturing process.”

The DelFly Nimble is the first MAVLab drone that uses off-the-shelf components and is built on established manufacturing methods. Additionally, its flight endurance is extended enough to make it usable in “real-world applications.”

Development of the DelFly Nimble will continue funded by the Dutch science foundation NWO.

source