Record-breaking Tiny Robot Offloads Electronics To Fly By Magnetism

Scientists claim to have developed the world’s smallest untethered flying robot, using a unique approach to its design. To minimize size and weight, they moved the robot’s power and control systems out of its sub-centimeter-wide body.

Prof. Liwei Lin and his team at the University of California, Berkeley, are developing the robot, which measures just 9.4 mm in width and weighs 21 mg.

Mimicking Bumblebee Flight Capabilities

It mimics the flight capabilities of a bumblebee. Like the insect, it can hover in place, move both vertically and horizontally, and hit small targets. Future versions could one day perform tasks such as pollinating plants or exploring spaces too small for regular drones to reach.

The robot’s 3D-printed polymer body consists of a four-bladed horizontal propeller, surrounded by a “balance ring.” A small vertical ring protrudes from the center of the propeller, holding two puck-shaped neodymium permanent magnets – each measuring 1 mm wide by 0.5 mm thick.

An externally generated alternating magnetic field powers and steers the robot along a single axis.

The robot’s two magnets simultaneously attract and repel each other with this field, which, as a result, causes the attached propeller to spin and create lift. Once airborne, the balance ring further contributes by adding rotational inertia. Consequently, this produces a gyroscopic effect that enhances stability.

Movement Control Through Magnetic Field Variations

By uniformly increasing or decreasing the strength of the magnetic field, the robot moves up or down by causing it to spin faster or slower, respectively.Varying the magnetic field strength over horizontal distance moves the robot forward, backward, or sideways.

The scientists now plan to add sensors that will allow the robot to maintain steady flight by self-correcting for factors like wind gusts.They also hope to make the device even smaller. In doing so, they aim to reduce its energy requirements. Specifically, this reduction will occur by using a weaker magnetic field.

Read the original article on: New Atlas

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