MIT Develops Tiny Agile Drones for Navigation in Cramped Spaces

Researchers from have developed tiny flying robots that can come close to mimicking insects' agility, giving them the ability to fly and navigate in cramped spaces. Think of trying to swat a fly or a mosquito over and over again but never seem to make contact. That trait, along with a level of resiliency, allows the insects to perform acrobatic acts while overcoming gusts of wind and obstacles while in flight. Those aspects are tough to incorporate into drones, but MIT Assistant Professor Kevin Yufeng Chen and his team have designed a system that approaches those nimble skills.

The secret to the aerial robot's acrobatic prowess is a new class of soft actuators, which enables them to withstand real-world flight physical ordeals. Typically, small drones are outfitted with rigid actuators, designed using piezoelectric ceramic materials, which are ideal for long flights in open spaces, but quickly crumble when coming into contact with obstacles. This is where soft actuators come into play, as Chen and his team designed the new actuators using thin rubber cylinders coated in carbon nanotubes. When voltage is applied to the carbon nanotubes, they produce an electrostatic force that expands and contracts the rubber cylinder, and when done repeatedly, the drone's wings begin to beat very quickly.

The researcher's actuators can flap up to 500 times per second and is agile enough to perform summersaults in flight. Moreover, the drone features an astonishing amount of resilience, letting it take a hit and recover while flying. At this point in the drone's development, it weighs just 0.6 grams, about that of a large bumblebee, and looks more like a cassette tape than an insect, but Chen and his team are currently working on a new prototype shaped like a dragonfly.