Four-Winged Flying Robot Drifts on Breezes Like an Airborne Jellyfish

It seems coherent that if you ’re designing a flying automaton , you might borrow a few approximation from Mother Nature ’s airborne repertoire . But researchers at NYU instead too their inspiration from under the sea for this unusualrobotic workmanship that flies through the airthe same way a jellyfish moves through the sea .

A set of four vertically mounted wings all squeeze together in unison , forcing tune downwards in a jet interchangeable to how a jellyfish propels itself forward with a blast of piss . And while the robot ’s pattern may look excessively simplistic , that work to its advantage since it by nature stays just without the need for complicated avionics or servo .

And while the robot ’s lightweight bod permit it to drift on the pushover and travel long distances with minimum total of Department of Energy , the researchers at NYU feel it could be scaled up to let in sensors and other reconnaissance devices . Kind of a like a reusable weather balloon that wo n’t burst at eminent altitude , or leave your legs cover in sore stings . [ New Scientist ]