World Smallest Spy Plane - Harvard University's Robotic Fly

Haward University's Professor Robert Wood and his team at Havard University's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have developed a small robotic-fly,which weighs only 60mg (0.002oz) and has a wingspan of 30mm (1.18in).The movements of this tiny flying robot are modelled on those of a real fly.Complex wing movements of houseflies,fruit flies and bees have been studied in depth for development of this robotic-fly.Its eventual application might include locating survivors trapped in mines or in debris of collapsed buildings,detecting harmful chemicals and covert surveillance in wartime.

The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is funding Wood's research.DARPA's interest lies in the development of a small flying robot capable of stealth surveillance in the battlefield and urban environments.The robot's small size and fly-like appearance are vital in such critical missions."You probably wouldn't notice a fly in the room, but you certainly would notice a hawk," Wood says.Professor Robert Wood also,"Nature makes the world's best fliers".

The ability to develop miniature and light weight working parts is critical and indeed a big challenge to meet in successful development of this project.“For years, the thrust of our work was ‘How do we do this?’” says Wood. “There was no existing fabrication paradigm, given the scale we were operating on, the speed we wanted to operate with, and things like cost, turnaround, and robustness.” According to Havard Magazine,his research group developed and fabricated a laser carving system that could meticulously cut,shape and bend sheets of carbon fibre and polymer—both strong but lightweight materials—into necessary micro-parts.

(Image via IEEE Spectrum and Havard Magazine)

The wings of this small robotic fly beat 120 times per second to keep it flying in the air.To power this smart flying robot was also a big challenge as it was not possible to simply use a shrunken version of the heavy DC motors,which are usually used in most robots.So to meet this challenge Professor Robert and his team settled on using a simple actuator made of a layered composite that bends when electricity is applied to it.This actuator powers a micro-scale gearbox hooked up to the wings.According to Havard Magazine the power density—a measure of power output as a function of mass—of a fly’s wing muscles is around 80 watts per kilogram; Wood’s wing design produces more than 400 watts per kilogram.

According to Havard Magazine,the first flight of this tiny robotic-fly took place one late evening of March 2007,when Professor Wood was working alone in his office.It is indeed a great achievement of Professor Wood,as it will serve as a stepping stone to his further efforts in truly replicating the flight of a fly and developing a tiny robotic fly that could set in a new era of research and development in the field miniature robots and insect-sized spy planes.  

Further details about this project may be found at Havard Magazine, IEEE Spectrum and Havard Microrobotics Lab.


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