As long as there is a light source, it can have "infinite battery life". This Harvard drone may be omnipresent!
Latest update time：2019-08-25
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Not long ago, I downloaded an American war film "Eye in the Sky" out of boredom. It tells the story of the US military using drones to kill the leader of a terrorist organization in Somalia!
What makes me curious is that in the story, in order to understand the situation of the terrorists, the agent used an insect drone to conduct reconnaissance!
The bionic design allows this "gadget" to sneak into the house and understand the situation without being discovered by the enemy.
In the end, the military successfully ended the life of the terrorist leader by launching two Hellfire missiles from an MQ-9 Reaper drone in the air!
The plot is compact and rigorous, but the request for legal advice before the attack seems a bit procrastinated and annoying!
However, the fact that emotions can fluctuate with the plot also shows that this part of the plot is still good!
After watching the movie, what attracted Che Shao the most was the super tiny insect drone.
Do such drones really exist?
At first, I thought it was a plot designed to exaggerate the US military’s technology!
But just a few days ago, I saw a piece of news that the cover article of the internationally renowned "Nature" magazine showed everyone the world's lightest drone——
RoboBee X-Wing
X-Wing is a flying robot created by researchers at Harvard University's Microrobotics Laboratory, led by Professor Robert J. Wood, to simulate insects.
It has four insect-like wings, and this is what it looks like under a high-speed camera!
Compared to the insect drones with limited power in the movies, the X-Wing has skills that all drones envy.
According to the researchers,
it uses solar cells
to allow for sustained, untethered flight as long as there is a light source
.
And the X-Wing is
the lightest insect aircraft to date, weighing
259 mg
, lighter than a paper clip, with a wingspan of about
3.5 cm
.
There is a tiny solar cell weighing about 10 mg on the body to power it.
It takes less energy to power a RoboBee than it does to light up a single bulb on a string of LED Christmas lights.
Compared to large aircraft soaring in the vast sky, this micro-robot has greater potential in investigation and exploration.
Just attach a camera and an antenna
to it
, and it can quietly perch on the enemy's beams for reconnaissance, just like the insect drones in the movies!
Compared
to previous micro-flying robots, this RoboBee
has a better gear ratio
, improved actuators, and an extra pair of wings.
These improvements give the microrobot enough lift to carry six solar cells and onboard electronics.
Finally, here is the official video introduction: