By Nicholas West February 4, 2017
Micro Air Vehicles (MAV) are the official name for the growing array
of tiny robots that have begun to take flight. Increasing
miniaturization has led to an even smaller sub-group of drones called
NAV (nano air vehicles) which have been commissioned to provide new
solutions in the areas of search and rescue, hazardous exploration,
military surveillance, climate mapping, and traffic monitoring – to name
a few of the slated functions. Some of these NAV include mapleseed drones, sparrow drones, dragonfly drones and one called RoboBee. The reconstruction of nature is seen by researchers as the best way to introduce MAV and NAV on a wide scale.
The latest in this developing drone menagerie appears to represent
the next stage of evolution, a sophisticated miniature drone modeled
after a bat that developers are simply calling Bat Bot. As featured by Popular Mechanics:
Bat Bot is nothing short of an engineering marvel. It weighs in at only 3.3 ounces—about as heavy of two golf balls. With a silicone membrane stretched over its carbon-fiber skeleton, a head crammed with an on-board computer and sensors, and five micro-sized motors strung along its backbone, Bat Bot is capable of autonomous, flapping flight. Designed by trio of roboticists led by Soon-Jo Chung at Caltech, it was unveiled today in the journal Science Robotics. Read more
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