Flying Robot Based on the Movement of a Jellyfish
- 10 years ago
Researchers from New York University have developed a tiny flying robot based on the movements of ocean dwelling jellyfish.
Who says jellyfish can only exist in oceans?
Researchers from New York University have developed a tiny flying robot based on the movements of ocean dwelling jellyfish.
Using the same lift dynamics that jellyfish use to swim through the water, the tiny robot can fly by folding and unfolding its four wings to catch and release bursts of air.
The prototype of the robot is connected to a power source by an electrical wire and is shaped like a small umbrella measuring several centimeters.
Leif Ristroph, an assistant professor of mathematics from New York University who designed the flying jellyfish robot said that for one possible application, “you’d make a hundred of them and throw 'em up into the air and monitor the air quality above New York City, the pollutants or CO2.”
Tiny flying robots have been based on the movement of animals in nature before, including one built by researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute that was modeled after the movement of bees, or a flying drone developed at a research lab in Berkeley, California that has flapping wings like a bird.
What do you think about the design of a flying robot being based on a seafaring creature?
Who says jellyfish can only exist in oceans?
Researchers from New York University have developed a tiny flying robot based on the movements of ocean dwelling jellyfish.
Using the same lift dynamics that jellyfish use to swim through the water, the tiny robot can fly by folding and unfolding its four wings to catch and release bursts of air.
The prototype of the robot is connected to a power source by an electrical wire and is shaped like a small umbrella measuring several centimeters.
Leif Ristroph, an assistant professor of mathematics from New York University who designed the flying jellyfish robot said that for one possible application, “you’d make a hundred of them and throw 'em up into the air and monitor the air quality above New York City, the pollutants or CO2.”
Tiny flying robots have been based on the movement of animals in nature before, including one built by researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute that was modeled after the movement of bees, or a flying drone developed at a research lab in Berkeley, California that has flapping wings like a bird.
What do you think about the design of a flying robot being based on a seafaring creature?