Tiny robot floats like a butterfly, lands like a bee
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029840
Guardian : Weighing a tenth of a gram and measuring 2 cm in height, RoboBee is a small flying robot designed for aerial surveillance. Because keeping an aerial drone aloft requires so much energy, Moritz Alexander Graule of MIT and his colleagues added an electrostatic pad, which acts as a switchable adhesive to allow the device to perch on nearly any material, including glass, wood, and plant leaves. In that way it can continue to deliver aerial views over a wide terrain while consuming three orders of magnitude less power. Although their preliminary model must remain tethered to a nearby power source, the researchers are working to develop an onboard battery pack.