Scientists develop insect-sized flying robots with flapping wings

Date:
February 2, 2022
Source:
University of Bristol
Summary:
A new drive system for flapping wing autonomous robots has been
developed, using a new method of electromechanical zipping that
does away with the need for conventional motors and gears.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
A new drive system for flapping wing autonomous robots has been developed
by a University of Bristol team, using a new method of electromechanical zipping that does away with the need for conventional motors and gears.


==========================================================================
This new advance, published today in the journal Science Robotics,
could pave the way for smaller, lighter and more effective micro flying
robots for environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and deployment
in hazardous environments.

Until now, typical micro flying robots have used motors, gears and
other complex transmission systems to achieve the up-and-down motion of
the wings.

This has added complexity, weight and undesired dynamic effects.

Taking inspiration from bees and other flying insects, researchers from Bristol's Faculty of Engineering, led by Professor of Robotics Jonathan Rossiter, have successfully demonstrated a direct-drive artificial
muscle system, called the Liquid-amplified Zipping Actuator (LAZA),
that achieves wing motion using no rotating parts or gears.

The LAZA system greatly simplifies the flapping mechanism, enabling
future miniaturization of flapping robots down to the size of insects.

In the paper, the team show how a pair of LAZA-powered flapping wings
can provide more power compared with insect muscle of the same weight,
enough to fly a robot across a room at 18 body lengths per second.

They also demonstrated how the LAZA can deliver consistent flapping over
more than one million cycles, important for making flapping robots that
can undertake long-haul flights.

The team expect the LAZA to be adopted as a fundamental building block
for a range of autonomous insect-like flying robots.

Dr Tim Helps, lead author and developer of the LAZA system said
"With the LAZA, we apply electrostatic forces directly on the wing,
rather than through a complex, inefficient transmission system. This
leads to better performance, simpler design, and will unlock a
new class of low-cost, lightweight flapping micro-air vehicles for
future applications, like autonomous inspection of off- shore wind
turbines." Professor Rossiter added: "Making smaller and better
performing flapping wing micro robots is a huge challenge. LAZA is
an important step toward autonomous flying robots that could be as
small as insects and perform environmentally critical tasks such
as plant pollination and exciting emerging roles such as finding
people in collapsed buildings." Video: https://youtu.be/2QWoAXX9FWI ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by University_of_Bristol. Note: Content
may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
* Flying_robot ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Tim Helps, Christian Romero, Majid Taghavi, Andrew T. Conn, Jonathan
Rossiter. Liquid-amplified zipping actuators for micro-air vehicles
with transmission-free flapping. Science Robotics, 2022; 7 (63)
DOI: 10.1126/ scirobotics.abi8189 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/02/220202143053.htm

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