Robotics is the branch of science and technology which is evolving every day. The kinds of robots that are being made are becoming more and more versatile and more and more unique and innovative. Apart from experimenting with their abilities, scientists are also experimenting with the size of the robots. ‘Robobee’ is one such robot. It is a miniature robot which is equals the size of a penny and is inspired by the biology, movement and behaviour of the insects.
A team of researchers from MIT University and Harvard University, in their combined effort, have found a way to copy the way insects perch and they have also succeeded in incorporating it into ‘Robobee’s’ “perching abilities”. This is to note that when someone is making a device so small, due consideration has to be given to energy conservation. The perching of this robot like an insect proved to be difficult in reality.
In order to overcome this big hurdle, the combined team of Harvard and MIT found a way to dramatically extend the ‘Robobee’s’ operational life. They made use of the electrostatic adhesion which means that the Robobee uses a small electrode patch and shock-absorbing foam mount to make the tiny robot latch onto surfaces upside down. If the Robobee wants to let go of a surface, it can do so by simply switching off the power supply to the electrode. By utilising this technique, the Robobee is able to use 1/1000 of the energy required to keep it flying and hence conserve its energy supply considerably.
Robobee might seem very small and people may think that it is of no use. But contrary to this belief, these miniature robots find uses in autonomously pollinating crops, search and rescue operations after a calamity, hazardous environment exploration, military surveillance, high resolution weather and climate mapping and traffic monitoring.
Back in 2000’s The Robobee Project had started off as a mission that originally started as a proposed solution to the mysterious disappearance of honeybees. A team of researchers headed by Gu-Yeon Wei, Radhika Nagpal, and Robert Wood, professors and associate professor at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), posed a technological solution to the effects of this strange mass epidemic afflicting the insects.
In 2009, the three of them joined hands with their colleagues at Harvard University and Northeastern University to consider what it would take to create a robotic bee colony. This was what had given birth to the Robobee Project and look how far it has come.
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Author: Technology and Beyond
