Harvard Launches Robo-Fly

Editorial Staff

Sunday, May 05, 2013 at 12:00 AM ET

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Key Takeaways:

Harvard University researchers have developed a fly-sized robotic UAV over 12 years, designed to mimic insect flight using piezoelectric devices for wing flapping.
This "robo-fly" is envisioned for potential applications such as search and rescue in confined spaces and crop pollination.
Current limitations include requiring a tether for power rather than an autonomous supply and high vulnerability to environmental factors like rain or wind.

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Harvard University researchers have demonstrated a fly-sized UAV that actually mimics insect flight. The researchers spent 12 years developing the robo-fly, which uses piezoelectric devices that contract and release when power is switched on and off, allowing it to beat its tiny wings. “We get it to contract and relax, like biological muscle,” Dr. Kevin Ma, one of the scientists, said in a news release. The researchers released a video of the device in a controlled hover and envision it being used for search and rescue, where it could fly through the tiny spaces of a debris pile to locate survivors. It might even take on jobs normally done by insects, like pollination of crops.

To reach that point, however, there are some daunting technological challenges. The little robot doesn’t yet fly with an autonomous power supply. It’s tethered. Also, a raindrop or stiff wind can do it in.