Researchers including 3 Indians build 1st insect- sized UAV
Washington: A team of researchers including three Indians at a prestigious US university has built the world’s first wireless fly- sized drone that can easily slip into tight places inaccessible to big unmanned aerial vehicles.
Developed by members of the Allen School’s Networks and Mobile Systems Lab and the Department of Mechanical Engineering’ s Autonomous Insect Robotics Lab, RoboFly represents a milestone in autonomous flight that could launch a new wave of innovation in aerial robotics. The University of Washington team, which created the wireless flying insect RoboFly, are Allen School professor Shyam Gollakota, mechanical engineering professor Sawyer Fuller, Vikram Iyer, a Ph. D. student in electrical engineering who works with Gollakota, Ph. D. student Yogesh Chukewad and Ph. D. Student and lead author Johannes James.
The insect- sized flying robots could help with time- consuming tasks like surveying crop growth on large farms or sniffing out gas leaks, the university said in a statement.
These soar by fluttering tiny wings as they are too small to use propellers, like those seen on their larger drone cousins. These robots are cheap to make and can easily slip into tight places that are inaccessible to big drones. “We built first fly- sized drone that does not need a wire to the ground for power and control signals,” Chukewad said.