Micro-aerial vehicles (MAVs) are small flyers that have become a point of interest due to their potential use as maneuverable stealth devices. A recent project of some researchers at two universities may have developed an amazing new spy device based on the biomimicry of bats. One of the main researches by the name of Gheorghe Bunget, stated, “due to the availability of small sensors, MAVs can be used for detection missions of biological, chemical and nuclear agents.” The difficulty is creating a device that is small and maneuverable at the same time.
In order to form this creation, the researches first analyzed the bats’ skeletal and muscular systems and from this developed their very own skeleton of a “robo-bat.” This skeleton is small enough to fit in the palm of a human hand and weighs less than 6 grams! To cover the skeleton the researchers created an assembly of joints, a muscular system, and a wing membrane for the robo-bat to allow it to fly with the same flapping motion of a real bat.
The robo-bat has sensory input that allows it to respond quickly to the conditions around it. For example, if a gust of wind picks up, the bat can adjust to this “as perfectly as a real bat.” This could not only be a surveillance tool with several practical uses, but it also helps with scientists understanding of aerodynamics.
In creating the bat, scientists used low-power miniaturized radar and a highly sensitive navigation system that could help the bat find its way at night. Energy for the bat’s lithium battery would be provided by solar and wind power, as well as other sources. This device would be very useful in that it could potentially use radio to send signals back to troops.
“Bats have a highly-attuned echolocation sense providing high-resolution navigation and sensing ability even in the dark, just as our sensor must be able to do,” stated Kamal Sarabandi, from the U-M Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. Echolocation, the use of sound emission and echo detection, is what allows real bats to navigate.
Researches predict that the bat robot’s body would be about six inches long. It would also weigh about a quarter of a pound and use about 1 W of power. This incredible piece of technology would prove very useful for future situations.
The scientific community has come to realize that there now may be another animal in nature that can control its movement while airborne; the squid. There are up to six species of squid that have been observed in nature to posses the ability to launch themselves around 2 meters high out of the water and then continue in the air for over 10 meters. This is an astonishing 50 times its own body length of about 20 centimeters long. They have on multiple occasions been observed stuck on boat decks with the owner not having a clue of where they came from, and now this phenomenon can be explained.
It is not fully known how the squid propels itself out of the water and how it controls its trajectory, but there are hypothesis that people suspect to be true. It is believed that the squid fills up with water while in the sea and then shoots out the water as a jet that has enough force to propel the squid out of the water. They can use this jet to propel themselves in the water to help them pounce on prey but it is believed that the squid propels itself out of the water with the jet in order to evade predators. This can be seen as the stream of water that follows the squid as it travels through the air.
What is so fascinating about the squid is that it can then supposedly manipulate how long it stays out of the water and what direction it wants to head towards by using its fins, tentacles, and the jet of water that they produce.
When the squid are in the air, it is believed that they can alter where it travels by flapping their fins and stretching out their tentacles. This is amazing because researchers would not classify what the squid does as gliding because gliding describes an action that is too passive to explain the squids active movements while airborne. Instead it is more appropriate to call the actions of the squid as flying because they can actually control themselves while in the air. They fly backwards with their tentacles and fins spread out almost acting like wings to provide balance. The jet of water that they produce and the flapping of their fins is also said to provide some lift and not to just enable gliding, which is something truly rare for an animal that lives in the sea.
With the discovery of the squids ability to propel themselves out of the water, there is now another animal that can be said to fly through the air if only for a little moment in time. The squid has perfected a perfect way to flea from predators and escape not only them but also the clutches of the sea. Hopefully they will find themselves landing back in the ocean, and not landing on the deck of an unsuspecting boat.
Parasitic wasp hitching a ride on the face of a moth
The parasitic wasp (Dicopomorpha echmepterygis) is the smallest flying creature in the world with a length of approximately 0.1mm-0.17mm and a weight of only 0.000025 grams. It typically serves as a biological crop protector by killing the eggs from which harmful caterpillars grow. The wasp is technically a parasitoid because while parasites live off the expense of their host without actually killing it, parasitoids almost always kill their host. It is known that these insects are “hitchhikers” and often ride on the faces of butterflies and larger insects to travel. However, until recently, nobody knew exactly how these insects were able to get to their hosts and their hosts’ eggs.
Parasitic wasp on butterfly eggs
The “Flight Artists” from Wageningen University in the Netherlands were the first to film the flight of the parasitic wasp on a high speed camera. Only 54 people have been trained to take this extraordinary camera into the field. The videos prove that these tiny insects are in fact capable of flight and allow us to analyze their flight techniques. They use a combination of both leaping and flapping to generate enough lift for flight. First they use their tiny legs to jump. Once they are in the air, they must flap their wings at an incredibly fast rate of 350 times per second. The parasitic wasp beats its wings 14 times in the time between two TV images. The video shows that they are capable of independent controlled flight. However, it seems that the insect has not mastered the landing process yet. Whether it is landing on its feet or boldly on its head, the parasitic wasp is almost always in store for a crash landing.
Who would think that an airplane could land on the side of your house? The guys at Stanford would.
Stanford University's Biomimetics Laboratory has been working on a small scale fixed wing aircraft that can perch on the side of a building, or just about any vertical surface. The plane's "landing gear" consists of flexible "legs". These legs are complete with a carbon fiber tibia and femur. The actual means by which the plane grapples onto the wall is a series of flexible steel hooks, as shown in the video above.
Not only can the plane land on vertical surfaces, it can also depart from them. Once the motors generate enough power for flight, the "talons" mechanically disengage and voila, the plane is airborne.
This plane is rather reminiscent of many of our rainforest friends such as the gliding ant, which latches onto tree trunks high above the ground below. Much like the ant, the plane is able to detect the landing surface and adjust its flight based upon these findings. The plane must pitch up at precisely the correct moment in order to latch itself to the wall. Before pitching up, the plane is traveling at around 20 miles per hour. Just before landing, the drone is able to decrease its speed to less than 7 miles per hour.
Unlike the gliding gecko with its active tail which serves to grab onto the wall in the case of a loss of grip, the drone has not been developed with any sort of safety mechanism for such an occurrence. Considering that the model is so new, these sort of improvements have not yet been made. However, the developers at Stanford plan to work on a system of saving the plane in the event that it does not grip the wall.
But what are the uses of such a device?
So far, the drone has been developed with the idea of some military applications in mind. For example, a smaller model of the plane would be able to land on a building unnoticed and gather intelligence throughout a surveillance operation. The drone is also useful for areas in which there are no stretches of flat land for the plane to make a descent.
So as our machines become more and more like animals, we ask ourselves: What will they think of next?
The flight of a hummingbird has been fascinating to study since it is able to fly backwards and hover. The amount of energy it must use to flap its wings 12-90 times per second seems impossible for a creature its size. It also manages to control its flight so precisely that it can point its beak into a flower and drink the nectar directly while hovering. This type of controlled flight is what inspired AeroVironment, Inc., sponsored by DARPA, to create the Nano Hummingbird.
DARPA intended AeroVironment, Inc. to create Nano Air Vehicles. These NAVs could be used for reconnaissance and surveillance uses. The Nano Hummingbird is a remote-controlled battery-powered NAV prototype that can fly indoors and outdoors. So far, it can only fly for 11 minutes. However, it can fly up to 17 km/h with a variety of movements: moving side to side, forward and backward, up and down, rotating clockwise and counter-clockwise, and hovering. Its total weight is only 19 grams and it has a wingspan of 6.5 inches. It interesting how "nano" the aircraft really is. 19 grams of total weight includes the motor, batteries, camera, frame, and comm systems. Though it is heavier than a real hummingbird, it is capable of flying just like one.
The Nano Hummingbird worked so well that it managed to meet and exceed some of DARPA's expectations. The hovering is so precise that it can be done within a 2 m diameter sphere. The Nano Hummingbird was also able to withstand winds up to 2 m/s without being blown away. Remote-controlling the aircraft was also efficient because the person operating it does not have to be able to see or hear the aircraft, using the live video feed for sight only. The aircraft can also fly through doorways and transition from hovering to forward flight and vice versa smoothly.
This is an example of what biomimicry can do. Imagine in the future, a bunch of these nano hummingbirds used as spy drones in urban areas. An aircraft this small could appear anywhere, be barely noticeable, and may even be equipped with certain weapons.
