Harvard University says hello to the tiniest flying robot ever

Pictured next to an American coin, this little machine weighs in at a mere tenth of a gram. The Robobee, developed at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering,  is officially the smallest flying robot ever created and it’s just completed some very successful first flights.

It’s no surprise the Robobee was inspired by insects. Bees, for example, are incredibly elegant creatures, capable of buzzing from flower to flower effortlessly and hovering stably while pollinating them. In their sophistication and complex social structure, bees are in fact a perfect prototype for the development of biomimetic machines however, the common fly can do the trick too! In fact, Robobee’s locomotive properties are inspired by the pesky bugs we see flying around trash.

However lowly the little garbage lovers may seem, they’ve actually got some incredible qualities that scientists want a piece of. They’re quick, energy efficient, and their paper-thin wings are capable of getting them wherever they need to go.

While the Robobee is very impressive, living flies remain a few steps ahead. The wire connected to Robobee provides it with the energy it needs to operate since a battery small and light enough to embed in the bot has yet to be created.

According to the researchers who created the carbon-fiber critter, Robobee may soon be able to assists in areas such as: search and rescue in the case of natural disaster, hazardous environment exploration, and high resolution weather and climate mapping. By the sounds of it, this little bot will be busy as a ….

For more information about Robobee you can access the full paper HERE

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