Tiny, winged machines
Insect-sized robots can mimic the hovering and darting of flies.
Flies
have long been admired for their aerial agility, but technical
limitations in miniaturization have hindered attempts to replicate this
in similar-sized robots. Kevin Ma and his colleagues at Harvard
University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have invented a specialized
laser-manufacturing process that allowed them to create tiny composite
structures, including mechanical wings and flight muscles. The
researchers used the components to build 80-milligram robotic flies with
flapping frequency, wing stroke and energy use similar to that of real
flies.
The mechanical flies (pictured) were capable of controlled
flight manoeuvres and hovering in place. The work could open the door to
additional innovations in miniaturized machines.
Nature 497, 161
