Robobees
A convergence of body, brain, and colonyOverview of the Micro Air Vehicles Project
INSPIRED by the biology of a bee and the insect’s hive behavior ...
we aim to push advances in miniature robotics and the design of compact high-energy power sources; spur innovations in ultra-low-power computing and electronic “smart” sensors; and refine coordination algorithms to manage multiple, independent machines.
Update 2012-11-07
Science Nation - RoboBees: Design Poses Intriguing Engineering, Computer Science Challenges - YouTube
It started with a TV show, "Silence of the Bees," about honeybee populations in steep decline. At Harvard University, electrical engineers Rob Wood and Gu-Yeon Wei, and computer scientist Radhika Nagpal saw a challenge. And, so began the creation of the "RoboBee," a miniature flying robot, inspired by the biology of a bee and the insect's hive behavior. With support from the National Science Foundation and a program called Expeditions in Computing, Wood put together a diverse team of collaborators to get the RoboBee project off the ground. [...]
Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory
Flapping-wing microrobots
As the characteristic size of a flying robot decreases, the challenges for successful flight revert to basic questions of fabrication, actuation, fluid mechanics, stabilization, and power - whereas such questions have in general been answered for larger aircraft. When developing a flying robot on the scale of a common housefly, all hardware must be developed from scratch as there is nothing "off-the-shelf" which can be used for mechanisms, sensors, or computation that would satisfy the extreme mass and power limitations. [...]
Source: Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory
Related
- Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory
- Robotic Insect Takes Off - Technology Review
- RoboBees: An Autonomous Colony of Robotic Pollinators - YouTube
- Challenges for 100 milligram flight - YouTube
- Asymmetric wing flapping in a robotic insect - YouTube
- Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory micro-aerial vehicle - YouTube
- Micro air vehicle - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Micro Flying Robots Can Fly More Effectively Than Flies
