Flying Robot Mimics Rapid Insect Flight

Flying animals both power and control flight by flapping their wings. This enables small natural flyers such as insects to hover close to a flower but also to rapidly escape danger. Animal flight has always drawn the attention of biologists, who not only study their complex wing motion patterns and aerodynamics but also their sensory and neuro-motor systems during such agile maneuvers. Recently, flying animals have also become a source of inspiration for robotics researchers, who try to develop lightweight flying robots that are agile, power-efficient, and even scalable to insect sizes.