Miniaturization of robots that fly on beetles' wings | Science

Summary

For centuries, humans have been fascinated by flight. Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) meshed his skills as an artist, biologist, and engineer to sketch designs for flying machines modeled after bird and bat anatomy. Today, multidisciplinary scientists work systematically from investigating biological prototypes to conducting flight performance tests on new bionic robots. On page 1214 of this issue, Phan and Park (1) describe how they used biology, robotics, and a little bit of art to design a new miniaturized micro air vehicle (MAV) that is bioinspired by the rhinoceros beetle (Allomyrina dichotoma). Their MAV mimics the beetle's hindwings, which have origami-like folds that allow the insect to recover from flight collision.

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https://science.sciencemag.org/content/370/6521/1165