The RoboBee project at Harvard University is attempting to create a hive of small flying robots. In the article in the March 2013 issue of Scientific American, the project’s creators detail the challenges of building and controlling such tiny robots. The first video depicts some early flight tests of RoboBee prototypes. The slow-motion shots show the RoboBee turning in four different directions after takeoff. You’ll also notice a small wire hanging from the bee’s underside—that’s to supply power. Any battery (or other known energy-storage system) strong enough to power the RoboBee would be too heavy to allow the robot to take flight.

The second video details the clever strategy that the researchers have come up with to mass-produce complex robotic systems the size of a nickel.
 

Videos courtesy Rob Wood/Harvard University

6 Comments

1. 1. jack.123 06:59 PM 2/19/13

   The power problem is simple,solar cells on the wings.Why isn't piezo used the same way insects employ it?This would reduce the weight,size,and complexity of construction.Allowing more room for a bigger brain.

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2. 2. PRBennett 01:18 PM 3/11/13

   I wonder if you could use a Tesla coil to power the bees. Give them a "hive" that can move and a Tesla coil to give them the energy. Their range would be limited to how far that energy could reach. I don't know how far that would be, but if it's not far, you could even chain the coils so their fields overlapped and the bees could travel down the line from place to place.

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3. 3. jtdwyer 02:00 PM 3/11/13

   Very impressive, but do all controlled maneuvers have to conclude with a crash?
   
   I suggest a rubber band as a self-contained power source...

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4. 4. Happy Hal 05:21 PM 3/11/13

   What no stinger?

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5. 5. Xopher425 11:51 PM 3/11/13

   "The second video details the clever strategy that the researchers have come up with to mass-produce complex robotic systems the size of a nickel."
   
   Then why does the video show quarters and pennies instead of nickels?

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6. 6. Boosterman 06:14 PM 5/8/13

   It's immensely clever. However a short cut would be to take over the brain of a real bee. Millions of years of development have already been done on the moving parts of real bees, and left to their own devices will self replicate.

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