MIT builds swarms of tiny robotic insect drones that can fly 100 times longer than previous designs

MIT scientists are designing robotic insects that could one day swarm out of mechanical hives and perform pollination at a rapid pace — ensuring fruits and vegetables are grown at an unprecedented level. The new technology could increase crop yields dramatically without harming the environment.

Artificial pollination is a process through which humans manually move pollen from one flower to another, with advances such as mechanical pollination among the techniques being developed. The idea of using robot insects is not new — but a problem previous generations of bug-sized robots ran into was their lack of endurance, velocity and aerial versatility compared to bees and other real insects.

However, in a new paper published Jan. 15 in the journal Science Robotics, the team revealed that they could craft a design with features that addressed the current limitations in mechanical pollination.

The new designs can fly 100 times longer than previous versions while being lighter and housing enough storage for batteries, the scientists said. They added that the robots’ precision and agility have improved while the stress on their wing flexures normally experienced during flight has reduced.

Wing flexure is the ability of an aircraft’s wing (in this case, the “bug-bots”) to bend or flex. The team had to ensure that the wings of an aircraft lighter than a paperclip would not only surpass past designs but even perform better than their organic counterparts to revolutionize the way produce is grown.

“The amount of flight we demonstrated in this paper is probably longer than the entire amount of flight our field has been able to accumulate with these robotic insects,” said co-lead author Kevin Chen, associate professor of robotics at MIT, said in a statement. “With the improved lifespan and precision of this robot, we are getting closer to some very exciting applications, like assisted pollination.”

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