For his or her synthetic fairy, Hao Zeng and Jianfeng Yang received impressed by dandelion seeds. Credit score: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere College
The lack of pollinators, similar to bees, is a big problem for international biodiversity and impacts humanity by inflicting issues in meals manufacturing. At Tampere College, researchers have now developed the primary passively flying robotic geared up with synthetic muscle. Might this synthetic fairy be utilized in pollination?
The event of stimuli-responsive polymers has led to a wealth of material-related alternatives for next-generation small-scale, wirelessly managed soft-bodied robots. For a while now, engineers have identified the right way to use these supplies to make small robots that may stroll, swim and soar. Thus far, nobody has been capable of make them fly.
Researchers of the Light Robots group at Tampere College are actually researching the right way to make sensible materials fly. Hao Zeng, Academy Analysis Fellow and the group chief, and Jianfeng Yang, a doctoral researcher, have give you a brand new design for his or her challenge known as FAIRY – Flying Aero-robots based mostly on Gentle Responsive Supplies Meeting. They’ve developed a polymer-assembly robotic that flies by wind and is managed by gentle.
“Superior to its pure counterparts, this synthetic seed is provided with a smooth actuator. The actuator is made from light-responsive liquid crystalline elastomer, which induces opening or closing actions of the bristles upon seen gentle excitation,” explains Hao Zeng.
Responsive polymer permits the creation of synthetic, autonomously working buildings. In darkish and calm climate, the fairy stays nonetheless. When there may be sufficient gentle, the construction opens routinely permitting flying within the wind movement. Credit score: Jianfeng Yang / Tampere College
The substitute fairy is managed by gentle
The substitute fairy developed by Zeng and Yang has a number of biomimetic options. Due to its excessive porosity (0.95) and light-weight (1.2 mg) construction, it might probably simply float within the air directed by the wind. What’s extra, a secure separated vortex ring era allows long-distance wind-assisted touring.
“The fairy may be powered and managed by a light-weight supply, similar to a laser beam or LED,” Zeng says.
Which means gentle can be utilized to vary the form of the tiny dandelion seed-like construction. The fairy can adapt manually to wind course and pressure by altering its form. A light-weight beam may also be used to manage the take-off and touchdown actions of this polymer meeting.
Potential software alternatives in agriculture
Subsequent, the researchers will concentrate on enhancing the fabric sensitivity to allow the operation of the gadget in daylight. As well as, they are going to up-scale the construction in order that it might probably carry micro-electronic units similar to GPS and sensors as well as biochemical compounds.
According to Zeng, there is potential for even more significant applications.
“It sounds like science fiction, but the proof-of-concept experiments included in our research show that the robot we have developed provides an important step towards realistic applications suitable for artificial pollination,” he reveals.
In the future, millions of artificial dandelion seeds carrying pollen could be dispersed freely by natural winds and then steered by light toward specific areas with trees awaiting pollination.
“This would have a huge impact on agriculture globally since the loss of pollinators due to global warming has become a serious threat to biodiversity and food production,” Zeng says.
Many questions remain to be answered
However, many problems need to be solved first. For example, how to control the landing spot in a precise way? How to reuse the devices and make them biodegradable? These issues require close collaboration with materials scientists and people working on microrobotics.
Reference: “Dandelion-Inspired, Wind-Dispersed Polymer-Assembly Controlled by Light” by Jianfeng Yang, Hang Zhang, Alex Berdin, Wenqi Hu and Hao Zeng, 27 December 2022, Advanced Science.
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202206752
The FAIRY project started in September 2021 and will last until August 2026. It is funded by the Academy of Finland. The flying robot is researched in cooperation with Dr. Wenqi Hu from Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Germany) and Dr. Hang Zhang from Aalto University.
