Tiny Fairy-Like Robot Flies by the Power of Wind and Light

For his or her synthetic fairy, Hao Zeng and Jianfeng Yang obtained impressed by dandelion seeds. Credit score: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere College

The lack of pollinators, reminiscent of bees, is a big problem for world biodiversity and impacts humanity by inflicting issues in meals manufacturing. At Tampere College, researchers have now developed the primary passively flying robotic outfitted with synthetic muscle. May this synthetic fairy be utilized in pollination?

The event of stimuli-responsive polymers has caused a wealth of material-related alternatives for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly managed soft-bodied robots. For a while now, engineers have identified the best way to use these supplies to make small robots that may stroll, swim and leap. Up to now, nobody has been capable of make them fly.
Researchers of the Light Robots group at Tampere College are actually researching the best way to make good materials fly. Hao Zeng, Academy Analysis Fellow and the group chief, and Jianfeng Yang, a doctoral researcher, have provide you with a brand new design for his or her mission known as FAIRY – Flying Aero-robots primarily based on Mild Responsive Supplies Meeting. They’ve developed a polymer-assembly robotic that flies by wind and is managed by gentle.

“Superior to its pure counterparts, this synthetic seed is provided with a comfortable actuator. The actuator is fabricated from light-responsive liquid crystalline elastomer, which induces opening or closing actions of the bristles upon seen gentle excitation,” explains Hao Zeng.

Responsive polymer permits the creation of synthetic, autonomously working constructions. In darkish and calm climate, the fairy stays nonetheless. When there’s sufficient gentle, the construction opens mechanically permitting flying within the wind stream. Credit score: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere College

The factitious fairy is managed by gentle

The factitious fairy developed by Zeng and Yang has a number of biomimetic options. Due to its excessive porosity (0.95) and light-weight (1.2 mg) construction, it could actually simply float within the air directed by the wind. What’s extra, a secure separated vortex ring era permits long-distance wind-assisted touring.

“The fairy may be powered and managed by a light-weight supply, reminiscent of a laser beam or LED,” Zeng says.

Because of this gentle can be utilized to vary the form of the tiny dandelion seed-like construction. The fairy can adapt manually to wind path and pressure by altering its form. A lightweight beam will also be used to regulate the take-off and touchdown actions of this polymer meeting.

Potential utility alternatives in agriculture

Subsequent, the researchers will give attention to enhancing the fabric sensitivity to allow the operation of the machine in daylight. As well as, they may up-scale the construction in order that it could actually carry micro-electronic units reminiscent of GPS and sensors as well as biochemical compounds.

According to Zeng, there is potential for even more significant applications.

“It sounds like science fiction, but the proof-of-concept experiments included in our research show that the robot we have developed provides an important step towards realistic applications suitable for artificial pollination,” he reveals.

In the future, millions of artificial dandelion seeds carrying pollen could be dispersed freely by natural winds and then steered by light toward specific areas with trees awaiting pollination.

“This would have a huge impact on agriculture globally since the loss of pollinators due to global warming has become a serious threat to biodiversity and food production,” Zeng says.

Many questions remain to be answered

However, many problems need to be solved first. For example, how to control the landing spot in a precise way? How to reuse the devices and make them biodegradable? These issues require close collaboration with materials scientists and people working on microrobotics.

Reference: “Dandelion-Inspired, Wind-Dispersed Polymer-Assembly Controlled by Light” by Jianfeng Yang, Hang Zhang, Alex Berdin, Wenqi Hu and Hao Zeng, 27 December 2022, Advanced Science.
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202206752

The FAIRY project started in September 2021 and will last until August 2026. It is funded by the Academy of Finland. The flying robot is researched in cooperation with Dr. Wenqi Hu from Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Germany) and Dr. Hang Zhang from Aalto University.