Collaborate Disseminate
Robotic versions of flying insects hold a lot of promise for numerous applications, but controlling their yaw axis while in flight has proven challenging. A new bee robot, however, addresses that problem with a clever design.Continue ReadingCategory: D… Continue reading Bee-inspired flying robot gains yaw control via angled wings
Since NASA’s Mariner spacecraft made the first up-close observations of Mars in 1964, humanity has lobbed a long line of orbiters, landers, and rovers towards the Red Planet. Of course, …read more Continue reading NASA Taps Lockheed to Bring Back a Piece of Mars
Although wing-flapping micro-drones do already exist, the things tend to be quite fragile – and thus not ideally suited to real-world use. An experimental new one, however, utilizes a softer mechanism for greatly enhanced durability.Continue ReadingCat… Continue reading Tiny wing-flapping drone gets tougher by going softer
Tiny quadcopter drones, or micro air vehicles (MAVs), have notoriously short battery lives. So, if they can “perch” somewhere instead of hovering in mid-air, more power to them. A new gripper mechanism has been designed with that in mind.Continue Readi… Continue reading Mechanical gripper allows drones to hang from objects
The DelFly project has been busy since the last time we checked in on them. The Dutch team started 13 years ago and produced the smallest camera-carrying drone, and an autonomous tiny ornithopter. However, that ornithopter — now five years old — had to use some traditional control surfaces and a tail like an airplane which was decidedly not fruit fly-like. Now they’ve solved those problems and have announced the DelFly Nimble, a 13 inch and 1-ounce ornithopter. You can see the Nimble in the video below.
The close emulation of a real fly means the thing looks distinctly insect-like …read more