RoboBee outfitted with reliable landing gear enables safe touchdowns for tiny robots
Nature has perfected the art of landing. From delicate flies to buzzing bees, insects navigate complex aerial maneuvers and touchdown with high precision.
But for human-made flying robots, especially those at the insect scale, landing safely has been a significant challenge.
Drawing inspiration from insects, researchers at Harvard University have engineered a landing gear and control strategy that allows miniature flying robots to achieve safe landings on different types of surfaces.
It was applied to Harvard's RoboBee – a tiny flapping-wing robot.
'RoboBee is an excellent platform to explore the interface of biology and robotics,' said Alyssa Hernandez, co-author.
'Seeking bioinspiration within the amazing diversity of insects offers us countless avenues to continue improving the robot. Reciprocally, we can use these robotic platforms as tools for biological research, producing studies that test biomechanical hypotheses,' Hernandez said.
The team studied the long, jointed legs of the crane fly, an insect known for its slow, deliberate movements. These legs appear perfectly designed to absorb impact and ensure a gentle touchdown.
Inspired by this natural design, the engineers outfitted the RoboBee with its own set of long, double-jointed legs. These new appendages are designed to cushion the impact as the robot transitions from air to ground, protecting its delicate components.
The Harvard team has continuously improved the RoboBee's insect-like flight. It can fly, dive, and hover.
But this robot is a bit delicate as it weighs only a tenth of a gram and has a wingspan of a mere three centimeters.
Due to its small size, the RoboBee is significantly affected by the "ground effect.' It is the turbulent air generated by its flapping wings near a surface, similar to a helicopter's downdraft.
Christian Chan, a graduate student and co-first author on the paper, spearheaded the mechanical redesign.
He explains that these legs are crucial for safeguarding the RoboBee's fragile piezoelectric actuators – the powerful "muscles" that enable flight but are easily damaged by rough landings.
'The successful landing of any flying vehicle relies on minimizing the velocity as it approaches the surface before impact and dissipating energy quickly after the impact,' said Nak-seung Patrick Hyun, the co-first author, now an assistant professor at Purdue University.
'Even with the tiny wing flaps of RoboBee, the ground effect is non-negligible when flying close to the surface, and things can get worse after the impact as it bounces and tumbles,' Hyun explained.
But the new legs are only half the story. The RoboBee has also received a software update – an improved controller, or "brain," that helps it adapt to the troublesome ground effect.
The updated controller enables the robot to slow down upon approach, resulting in a gentle landing instead of a hard crash.
The team successfully tested these controlled landings on both rigid surfaces and even delicate leaves.
While currently tethered for power and control, the team's long-term goal is full autonomy for the RoboBee.
The RoboBee's safe landing capability creates exciting prospects for future uses.
For instance, it could be used in monitoring the environment and surveying disaster zones. Moreover, Chan is particularly enthusiastic about the potential for artificial pollination, envisioning swarms of RoboBees assisting in vertical farms and future gardens.
The findings were published in the journal Science Robotics.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Entrepreneur
2 hours ago
- Entrepreneur
AI Is Changing How Restaurants Are Run
Digital strategists Adam Brotman and Andy Sack discuss their new book on AI and the impact of tech on today's restaurants. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Adam Brotman and Andy Sack weren't planning to write a book about AI. At first, Harvard approached them about customer loyalty, a subject they knew well. Brotman had spent years leading digital strategy at Starbucks, helping build the company's world-class mobile app. Sack was a longtime technologist and venture capitalist who co-founded Forum3, a digital strategy firm, alongside Brotman. Then ChatGPT arrived on the scene, and everything changed. "We had this moment," Sack says to Shawn Walchef of Cali BBQ Media, "where we looked at each other and said: this is going to be way bigger than anyone realizes." Related: Giada De Laurentiis's Major Deal With Amazon Is a New Frontier for the Chef and Entrepreneur In that instant, the book they thought they'd be writing—the safe one about digital loyalty—became something else entirely. They were now on a mission to unpack AI: what it meant for business, creativity, and the entire landscape of work. That kicked off a journey that resulted in AI First: The Playbook for a Future-Proof Business and Brand. Their research involved interviewing some of the most powerful minds in tech: Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI; Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and OpenAI; and Bill Gates. They weren't easy interviews to get. When they met with Hoffman, he was late. He'd just finished a call with the Pope. That's how powerful technology companies have become. He was working with the Vatican to help them understand the societal impact of AI. What caught the Pope's attention was the idea that a device powered by AI could provide healthcare guidance on par with a primary care physician. At scale. For the entire world. Bill Gates put his feelings simply: "AI is bigger than the computer." When asked why, he explained, "This time, the computer understands us." Sam Altman didn't hold back when asked how AI would impact marketing and creativity. He said 95 percent of marketing as we know it would be done by AI within five years. Whole departments would be replaced by agents. Decades-old workflows would be transformed. That interview, held at OpenAI's offices in San Francisco, was a turning point. Brotman and Sack left stunned. They walked around the block in silence. "We were just processing," Brotman says. "Everything we thought we knew about business and the future had shifted." That's when it clicked: this was bigger than anything they had ever experienced. It was their "Holy Shit Moment." Because that's what it was. And that's what it still is, for anyone paying attention. The AI-First Restaurant For Adam Brotman, the restaurant industry isn't just another vertical. It's where digital meets human, where a line of hungry customers can make or break your bottom line. He's lived it, from his days building the Starbucks app to consulting with some of the biggest names in hospitality. So when he says AI is a game-changer for restaurants, he means it. "Restaurants have always struggled to compete with bigger retailers on technology," Brotman says. "They run on razor-thin margins, always focusing on the guest, the food, the experience. Tech has often been an afterthought." Related: Fans Are Tattooing This Pizza Brand's Logo on Their Skin for a Year of Free Slices That's no longer an option. "The playing field has changed," he says. "You can't say, 'I don't have a tech team or business intelligence.' You do. It's called AI." So what does that mean? For starters, every conversation matters. Team huddles, problem-solving sessions—record them, transcribe them, feed them into AI. That pile of chatter is now a goldmine of insight. Customer feedback is no longer just something you respond to. It is data. Use AI to structure that feedback, cross-reference it with your notes, and figure out what's working and what's not. And the data you already have? "You don't need a massive data warehouse," Brotman says. "Snapshot it weekly, feed it into AI, and get a clear, real-time look at what customers are buying, what trends are emerging, and where you need to pivot." Related: These College Friends Wanted to Sell Better Food. Now, Their Company Is Publicly Traded. Andy Sack is quick to point out that an AI-first restaurant starts with an AI-first mindset. "You don't have to be an expert," he says. "Start with a problem—labor, supply chain, marketing—and let AI help you map out solutions." His advice: Don't overcomplicate it. "Just ask," Sack says. "Treat it like an advisor. Tell it what's on your mind and let it help you see what's possible." For restaurant operators who've always fought for every inch of progress, that might be the biggest shift of all. The world where you had to choose between hospitality and technology is gone. And for Brotman and Sack, it all goes back to that first Holy Shit Moment—the realization that AI wasn't just another tool, but a tectonic shift that would change everything. "The ground is moving," Brotman says. "We're just helping restaurants stand on it." About Restaurant Influencers Restaurant Influencers is brought to you by Toast, the powerful restaurant point-of-sale and management system that helps restaurants improve operations, increase sales and create a better guest experience. Toast — Powering Successful Restaurants. Learn more about Toast. Restaurant Influencer is also supported by NEXT INSURANCE. See why 600,000+ U.S. businesses trust NEXT for insurance.
Time Magazine
6 hours ago
- Time Magazine
How Recent Grads Can Get a Job in a Challenging Labor Market
Companies are already using AI to decrease the number of entry-level roles they plan to hire. And with federal government layoffs and general uncertainty in the economy, graduating college students are facing an uphill climb as they enter the job market. We teach at Harvard and Northwestern and we have found that even the brightest of graduates are struggling to find jobs. Although the current economic landscape is unique, it is not entirely different from difficult labor markets in the past. We remember ourselves what it was like to be newly-minted college graduates during the Black Monday stock market crash in 1987 and on the heels of the dot-com bubble crash in 2002. Based on the research and coaching we've done with over 1,000 individuals looking for jobs, we have found that there are approaches job seekers can use to find work—even in a challenging labor market. When you're in college, what people actually do in different jobs and careers is often opaque. That was true for us. Formal job titles and the names of whole industries overwhelmed us before we had even explored what the day-to-day work was actually like. But here's something we've learned since: Companies aren't just hiring people. When someone decides to work somewhere, they are also hiring their employer in return. As a result, workers are also the customers of prospective jobs. That means college graduates should learn how to shop for employment. When shopping for a new product, it's not enough to just look at the names and prices. Instead, we think about what it would be like to actually use the product—and whether it would help us make progress. Individuals might explore Reddit boards, scour reviews, and talk to friends who have dealt with similar challenges. Job seekers should do the same. Don't focus on the features of a job—the title, the pay, and so forth. Instead, focus on what you'll do. What is the actual work and tasks? What pathways do different roles lead to? Where are the dead ends? To learn about the daily work a job entails, we've found it's best to talk to people who have the jobs we're curious about. The key is to ask questions about what people do on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis. Then, decide if what they do lines up with the things that energize and drain you. That will help you learn and refine your search. It will also help you meet people, which is crucial. Most individuals don't land jobs by applying blindly to things online. They get them through their network—according to estimates, at least 50% and as high as 85% of roles are filled this way. That is another thing we wish we had known when we were recent graduates: jobs don't materialize because of how many applications you send out, or purely because of your resume. Most people find jobs by networking with people in the industries that interest them. That's how it played out for both of us. Finally, graduating students are often impatient—for success, money, titles, work-life balance, and more. But what recent graduates, of all generations, struggle with is how to make tradeoffs so that they can get a job. The hard truth is that a job is better than no job. Yes, there are risks associated with accepting your first job offer. Research by Burning Glass Institute shows that roughly half of students are underemployed in their first job—meaning they take a role that doesn't require their college degree. The risk of doing so is that five years later, nearly 90% of those who undermatch are still underemployed. But at the same time, we can tell you from experience that there is no perfect job. Everyone—even the most successful CEO—has to make tradeoffs in their role. Those who are successful in the job market learn how to embrace tradeoffs to make wise choices. In other words, they don't settle. They are intentional about choosing what specifically is going to suck about their job so that they can get the things that matter most to them. To do that, individuals need to have a clear understanding of their priorities. In the early stages of one's career, job seekers should be willing to trade off things like prestigious titles for the chance to have a true mentor and get real hands-on experience where they can make an impact. Doing so can build confidence and a network. And employers value when applicants have demonstrated in work settings that they can get the job done well. By acting like a customer, building your network, and making wise decisions about tradeoffs, recent graduates can start their careers on the best foot possible—even if the labor market is on shaky ground.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
What animal has the best eyesight?
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Imagine you're a red-tailed hawk, soaring through the sky. You scan the ground, looking for your next meal. You spot a squirrel hundreds of feet below you. Its coat helps it blend into the ground, but its camouflage is no match for your sharp eyesight. Birds of prey — such as hawks, eagles and falcons — are known for their hyperfocused vision. But you might wonder if these birds really come out on top, or if other animals have even more impressive eyesight. So, what animal has the best vision? In reality, there's no easy answer — but there are certainly some standouts. "There is no perfect visual system," Esteban Fernandez-Juricic, a professor of biological sciences at Purdue University, told Live Science. He explained that from an evolutionary perspective, the development of advanced visual systems is extraordinarily costly. That's because eyes are a big component of the nervous system, which needs a lot of energy. To keep things efficient, evolution drives animals to develop only the visual systems they need for their environment and behavior. Raptors such as eagles, hawks and falcons have a reputation for having great vision, and that reputation is well-earned. These birds need to detect food from very far distances — sometimes even miles away. To do this, their visual systems evolved to prioritize extremely high-resolution vision. Sign up for our newsletter Sign up for our weekly Life's Little Mysteries newsletter to get the latest mysteries before they appear online. According to Thomas Cronin, a professor of biological sciences at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, raptor vision is about three to five times more detailed than humans', so having eagle eyes would feel like looking through a pair of binoculars. Related: How do migrating birds know where they're going? These birds have two adaptations that help them see clearly. First, their eyes are bigger relative to their body size. Second, they pack more photoreceptors — the specialized cells in the retina that detect light — into their eyes. Taken together, these traits help raptors spot prey from far away. When it comes to color vision in the animal kingdom, there's a clear winner: the mantis shrimp. These alien-looking invertebrates live in shallow ocean waters, and they may be able to see colors we can't even comprehend. To understand how mantis shrimp see the world, it's important to know how color vision works. Humans have three types of photoreceptor cells that detect different wavelengths of light, roughly corresponding to red, blue and green. Many vertebrates have four types of photoreceptors, meaning our color vision is worse than that of many other species. "Most other animals have better color vision than we do," said Justin Marshall, a professor emeritus at the University of Queensland in Australia with a specialty in marine animal eye and brain structure and function. "We're comparatively colorblind monkeys." Mantis shrimp have an even more staggering number of photoreceptors, though. According to Marshall, these crustaceans boast 12 types of color photoreceptors. Some of those receptors are even tuned to detect light in the ultraviolet range, likely making the world of the mantis shrimp look very different from our own. Mantis shrimp also have special photoreceptors that can detect the polarization of light — a feature of light waves that derives from how sunlight scatters through Earth's atmosphere. But it's not clear exactly how the mantis shrimp brain processes all of this information. Their brains may be picking up on patterns of color combinations rather than detecting individual inputs from photoreceptors. "They're probably not trying to see four times as much color as us — they're just decoding the information in a different way," Marshall explained. Our vision may feel like a continuous stream, but there's a limit to how quickly our eyes and brains can process information. According to Cronin, humans see at a rate of about 60 frames per second. Our creepy-crawly friends, on the other hand, can pack in much more visual information over the same period. The visual systems of most insects can capture hundreds of frames per second. That's so fast that fluorescent lights — which flicker at or below the perceptible rate for human vision — would look like strobe lights to them. "If a fly were to fly into a movie theater, it would just think it's watching a really fast slideshow," Cronin explained. This ultra-high-speed vision is why it's so hard to swat a fly; they literally see us coming before we do. Flies accomplish this because their bodies are so tiny that the electrical signals between their eyes and brain have a much smaller distance to travel, meaning they process visual inputs much more quickly. RELATED MYSTERIES —Which animal has the best sense of smell? —Which animal is the best hunter? (And which is the worst?) —Which animals are evolving fastest? All of these specialized visual systems are impressive in their own ways, but they also come with compromises. For example, both mantis shrimp and insects have compound eyes, which are made up of distinct subunits. There are only so many subunits that can fit, so these animals' vision is much lower-resolution than ours, like a pixelated photo. With these trade-offs in mind, human eyes are adequate, according to Cronin. "People are a pretty good compromise," he said. "I wouldn't want to be a mantis shrimp, because my brain would be the size of a small pea. So I'm happy with what I have, to be honest."
