MIT researchers have developed resilient artificial muscles that can enable insect-scale aerial robots to effectively recover flight performance after suffering severe damage. Credits : Photo: Courtesy of the researchers
MIT researchers have developed resilient artificial muscles that can enable insect-scale aerial robots to effectively recover flight performance after suffering severe damage. Credits : Photo: Courtesy of the researchers New repair techniques enable microscale robots to recover flight performance after suffering severe damage to the artificial muscles that power their wings. Close Bumblebees are clumsy fliers. It is estimated that a foraging bee bumps into a flower about once per second, which damages its wings over time. Yet despite having many tiny rips or holes in their wings, bumblebees can still fly. Aerial robots, on the other hand, are not so resilient. Poke holes in the robot's wing motors or chop off part of its propellor, and odds are pretty good it will be grounded.
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