Watch A Little Robot Flap Its Wings Like A Rhinoceros Beetle

A tiny robot designed to replicate the wing power of rhinoceros beetles may be perfect for search and rescue operations, as well as testing real insects, according to researchers at Switzerland’s Institute of Technology Lausanne and South Korea’s Konkuk University.

About twice the size of a beetle and weighing a little more than a CD (18 grams), the microrobot’s fast insect-like movements are used in research to determine how beetles use their wings. Unlike birds and bats, which rely on “well-developed skin and wing muscles” to extend their wings, the researchers note that “rhinoceros beetles can flap their hind wings without the need to move muscles,” they wrote in a paper published in Nature this week. . To test what they saw, they built a robot.

There were already tons of pictures of insect-inspired robots online – some very small, some like swarms of ants, and some reminiscent of cicadas. However, the researchers say their robotic critter is unique in the way it folds its wings at rest and then unfolds them to fly and land in the air. The researchers filmed the robot while it was in the air and slowed down the video footage (to 20% of the original speed) to show its beautiful, rhythmic unfolding.

“Our folding-wing robot can be used for search and rescue in confined spaces,” lead researcher and postdoctoral scientist Hoang-Vu Phan told Tech Xplore, citing the robot’s height. “If flying is not possible, the robot can sit or stay in any place, and then switch to other ways of moving like crawling,” he explained. The folding function can make its wings less damaged.

Phan also said the robot could camouflage itself to help biologists survey real insects in forests — a use that “no rotary wing drones are effective at,” he said. The robot could make a child-grade engineering toy, Phan suggested, explaining that “the robot’s low frequency is very safe and human-friendly.” That’s not the same as true rhinoceros beetles, which don’t bite or bite, despite their scary appearance.