MIT's Collision-Resistant Insect-Sized Drones

The Resilience of Insects and the Challenge of Miniature Robotics

Insects exhibit remarkable robustness despite their small size. While vulnerable to direct impacts from larger creatures, they’ve developed significant resilience through evolution. Conversely, replicating this durability in technology scaled to insect dimensions presents considerable difficulties.

Fragility of Scaled-Down Drones

Historically, miniaturized drones have proven susceptible to damage. As components shrink, they often become more fragile. Specifically, the performance and structural integrity of motors diminish with decreasing size.

Previous iterations developed at MIT utilized rigid ceramic materials. These materials enabled flight, but were insufficient for sustained operation. As the researchers point out, bumblebees routinely experience collisions – approximately once per second. Therefore, a small flying robot must be able to withstand frequent impacts.

“Constructing miniature aerial robots poses a substantial engineering challenge,” states Kevin Yufeng Chen, Assistant Professor at MIT.

A New Approach: Soft Actuators

The latest drone prototypes, described as resembling a winged cassette tape, employ soft actuators. These actuators are constructed from rubber cylinders coated with carbon nanotubes.

When an electrical current is applied, these actuators elongate at a frequency of up to 500 times per second. This rapid expansion drives wing movement, enabling flight.

These drones are exceptionally lightweight, weighing approximately 0.6 grams – comparable to a large bumblebee. However, current models have limitations. They require a wired power connection, which can be cumbersome.

Further development is underway, including the exploration of dragonfly-inspired designs for improved aerodynamics.

Potential Applications

If the lab can successfully create a self-powered, imaging-capable drone with sufficient battery life, the possibilities are extensive. Potential uses include inspections currently performed by larger drones, pollination assistance, and search and rescue operations.

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