On gossamer wings, the delicate robot flits lightly into the air. Its rectangular body, protruding with functional greeblings and connecting copper strands, leaves the ground, wobbles and then lands again on wire-thin railings. The flight is almost imperceptible at normal speed, becoming clear only when the frame rate is slowed to 3\/20ths. In total, the flight lasts less than half a second. The altitude gained is perhaps three, maybe four millimeters, if that. First flights don\u2019t have to be big flights for them to matter. The proof is in what comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The drone in question is the \u201cRoboFly,\u201d created by the Autonomous Insect Robotics Lab at the University of Washington. The robot uses a photovoltaic cell for power, which normally implies solar power but in this specific case absorbs energy from a laser directed at the cell. RoboFly flies by flapping, a piezoelectric actuator functioning as a contracting and expanding muscle as electric current flows through it. Coordinating it all is a microcontroller on the RoboFly\u2019s body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n