 |
Perching Flying Robot
A perching, flying robot is under development by Swiss researchers at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL). The intent is to create swarms of sensor-laden robots that can travel over rough terrain and aid disaster victims.
The robot uses sharp prongs to attach itself to most types of surfaces; it can detach and fly away on command.
(Perching, flying robot)
"We are not blindly imitating nature, but using the same principles to possibly improve on it," says Mirko Kovac of the EPFL. "Simple behavioral laws such as jumping, flying and perching lead to complex control over movement without the need for high computational power."
Perching saves energy and provides the robot a good vantage point to deploy its sensors; insects and birds do the same thing.
SF fans recall such early perching UAVs as that amazing fictional miniature flying machine, the Scarab Flying Insect Robot from the 1936 story by Raymond Z. Gallun.
I'd also mention the servo-optical stick-tight, a spy cell supported by rotary wings described by Jack Vance in his 1964 novel The Star King, and the robot tracking device described by Philip K. Dick in Vulcan's Hammer.
Read about other Stealthy, Persistent Perch and Stare UAVs and the Perching Autonomous Aircraft Perfects Prop Hang .
Via TG Daily.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 6/29/2010)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Flying Dragon Robot Transforms In Mid-Air
Terrific prototype video.
MXene Hydrogel Skin For Robots Flexes And Senses
'The plastex swam and whirled like boiling toothpaste...' - JG Ballard, 1962.
Drywall Robot Looking For Sheetrock
Sheetrockers have sure changed since my day. Speaking as someone who as done this, I welcome robots.
Robots Help People Get Dressed, As Predicted In 1931
Yes, people of the future, robots will dress you.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Current News
Wound Healing With Wearable Nanogenerators
'... forcing the energy transfer which allowed him to ... erase the other internal-external damage.'
Flying Dragon Robot Transforms In Mid-Air
Terrific prototype video.
Negative Matter Fluid Theorized In New Paper
'Of course, being negative matter, when you push it, it comes toward you..'
Grow Structures Upon Planetfall - Myco-Architecture
'They'll also start pulling in gases and liquids from the local atmosphere...'
MXene Hydrogel Skin For Robots Flexes And Senses
'The plastex swam and whirled like boiling toothpaste...'
EXPLORER, The First Total-Body Scanner
'The object is built up of an infinite series of plane layers, at the focus of the ray...'
UK Police AI To Stop Criminals Before They Strike
'... the computing mechanisms that studied and restructured the incoming material.'
Sonitus Audio Interface Positioned Beyond The Noise
'... an instrument having relatively small bit pieces adapted to be gripped between the teeth.'
Volvo's Self-Driving Mining Trucks
'A procession of automatic ore carts was racing over the bleak slag'
Audi Pop.Up Autonomous Electric Flying Car
'The cab was an egg-shaped bubble of light metals and plastics...'
Music Not Impossible (MNI) Vibrotactile Wearable Experience
Don't you want to experience the 'feely' effects?
Chinese Face Recognition Mistakes Bus Ad For Jaywalker
'... the imprint of her image on the telephoto cell.'
A Look Back At Apollo's Emergency Escape Vehicle
'A simple mechanism... it drove the iron ball through space like a ship.'
InMotion Glide 3 Electric Unicycle For The Last Mile
'...gyro-stabilized on a single wheel.'
China's Social Credit System - A Facebook-1984 Mashup
'Prestige, face, mana, repute, glory: the Sirenese word is strakh.'
Musk Declares Tesla Supercharger Capacity Will Double By Next Year
'Recharge the batteries... in almost every town and village...'
