We probably remember RoboBee, the insect robot. Now, its improved successor, RoboFly, is presented as a miniature robot that can fly thanks to the laser. It does not need batteries or cables like its predecessor. This wireless minidron, shaped and sized like a bee, draws its energy from light pulses from a laser.
Flying, insect-sized robots like RoboFly could help with tasks like inspecting crop growth on farms or detecting gas leaks. These robots fly on tiny wings as they are too small to use propellers (like the ones we see on their larger drone cousins). Mind you, this small size is quite a bonus: these robots are cheap to build and can easily slide into tight spots that are inaccessible to larger drones.
The interesting thing about RoboFly is also that you do not need cables, but a small AI that tells the wings when to move . Although it seems a trifle, it is a gigantic leap for robots. The robotic insect uses a small circuit on board that converts the energy from the laser into enough electricity to power its wings.
The engineering challenge was the flapping of the insect . This wing movement is a very energy-intensive process, and both the power source and the controller that directs the wings are too large and bulky to mount on board a small robot. And a flying robot should be able to fly by itself.
To do this, researchers at the University of Washington (USA) decided to use a narrow invisible laser beam to feed the robot. They pointed the laser beam at a photovoltaic cell, which is connected above RoboFly and converts the laser light into electricity.
“It was the most efficient way to quickly transmit a lot of power to the RoboFly without adding a lot of weight,” says Shyam Gollakota, co-author of the work.
Still, the laser doesn’t provide enough voltage to move the wings. That’s why the team designed a circuit that increased the seven volts coming out of the photovoltaic cell to the 240 volts required for flight.
And to give RoboFly control over its own wings, the engineers provided a brain – they added a microcontroller to the same circuit.
“The microcontroller acts like the brain of a real fly that tells the wing muscles when to move,” said Vikram Iyer, a co-author of the study. Specifically, the controller sends voltage in waves to mimic the flapping of a real insect’s wings.
For now, RoboFly can only take off and land. Once your photovoltaic cell is out of the direct line of sight of the laser, the robot runs out of power and lands. But the team hopes to be able to direct the laser soon so that the revolutionary wireless robotic insect can fly independently.
Future versions of Robofly could use tiny batteries or draw energy from radio frequency signals; in this way, its power source could be modified for specific tasks. They could also have more advanced brain systems and sensors that help robots fly and complete tasks on their own, the researchers say.
“I’d really like to make one that finds methane leaks. You could buy a suitcase full of them, open it up, and they’d fly around your building looking for plumes of gas coming out of the pipe. If these robots can make it easier to find leaks, it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This is inspired by real flies, which are very good at flying looking for smelly things. Therefore, we think this is a good application for our RoboFly “, clarifies Sawyer Fuller, co-author of the work.
Citation: Sawyer Fuller, Shyam Gollakota, Vikram Iyer. University of Washington. International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Brisbane, Australia.
