Submitted via IRC for AnonymousLuser
Scientists create a four-winged robot insect that flies with grace
It's difficult to make an insect-like flying robot -- realistic four-winged bots are typically too heavy, while lighter two-winged models tend to fly erratically. USC researchers have edged one step closer to the dream machine, however. They've created Bee+, a four-winged bot [...] that flies with more of the agility and poise of real insects while weighing just over 0.003oz. The trick was to drop earlier bimorph actuators, cantilevers made of two layers of piezoelectric material with a passive layer in between, with unimorphs that only have one piezoelectric layer. The four actuators combined weigh half as much as bimorphs would at just under 0.002oz, reducing the wing loading and significantly improving control.
There's still much, much more work to be done before there are robotic insects in service. Bee+ flies tethered, since that saves the team from factoring a battery into the design. Size is also a concern. While the robot is only slightly larger than a penny, it's still much larger and heavier than most real insects.
(Score: 1) by messymerry on Thursday May 23 2019, @10:46AM (3 children)
Who pays for this research and who benefits? Is this just another case of socializing the costs and privatizing the profits? This almost certainly has military applications. I refer you to this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlO2gcs1YvM [youtube.com]
Academics need to stop, sit back for a moment, and ask themselves: Is this really going to benefit mankind?
Ok, rant over,,,
;-D
Only fools equate a PhD with a Swiss Army Knife...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 23 2019, @11:20AM (1 child)
You are not very bright, are you? Researchers do these things more than just to blow shit up.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday May 23 2019, @06:36PM
You are very correct, they also do it to spy on stuff.
At least, that where the money is easily found. "it would be cute" doesn't have the same pull.
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Thursday May 23 2019, @08:33PM
You mean like with the Manhattan Project? I'm quite sure everyone was thinking about the betterment of mankind on that one.
Naive expectations, meet reality, the Military funds lots of research, in hopes of making better weapons to kill people with. It just so happens that as a side effect the research they have done helps mankind in various ways from time to time.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 23 2019, @11:12AM
So yeah, and here is the reason why "gray goo" is not a possibility
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_goo [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday May 23 2019, @01:35PM
If you take Gracie's pipe away from her, she'll stay on the ground.
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Thursday May 23 2019, @02:03PM (1 child)
0.003oz is about 0.08505 grams, which is very light.
I was curious about photo's, but TFA tries to open like this:
uMatrix has prevented the following page from loading:
https://guce.advertising.com/collectIdentifiers?sessionId=3_cc-session_d708e55e-8bb1-417b-930e-f7f0cb6d5ea9 [advertising.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 23 2019, @07:24PM
The PDF has some (rather bad) images https://arxiv.org/pdf/1905.02253 [arxiv.org]
The land of the Oz is quite confusing.