A new kind of robot swims the seas and soars the skies
Page 3/12

But he and his colleagues were undeterred. They based the robot's overall body plan on a diving bird, but made a couple of key departures.

First, they decided not to include any legs because in robotics, legs are tricky to build, control, and achieve the desired movement in the robot. "Instead, we thought, 'can we go from the water straight to the air simply with the wings themselves?'" says Zufferey.

Second, the research team decided against making those wings foldable as they are in many diving birds. That would have been too complex, Zufferey says. "You need to add joints, you need to add motors. So instead we rely on wing flexibility."

He holds up the final robot. It's elegant. The central body, which houses the motor and battery is completely open, meaning its electronic guts are visible.

Prev
Next
Back to headlines
News menu
Home