【Watch Ava Online】

Source：Steady Information Network Editor：Entertainment Time：2025-06-26 22:35:09

Drones have Watch Ava Onlinecome a long way in a short amount of time. They now can deliver packages, help in search and rescue missions and will even slice off your finger if your happen to touch one of their spinning rotors. Since we almost certainly will live and work with flying robots in the future, scientists have been looking for a better and safer way to fly. A flying robot bat may provide the answer.

You’ve got to hand it to bats. Not only are they nature’s only flying mammal, they beat the feathers off most other flying animals when it comes to flight mechanics.

SEE ALSO: Talking to robots might make you feel better about your love life, new research shows

Their swoops, dives, sudden turns and ability to use bones and thin skin for flight, as opposed to feathers, have so entranced observers that scientists have studied bat flight mechanics for years.

Now three researchers at Caltech University, Alireza Ramezani, Soon-Jo Chung, and Seth Hutchinson, have built their own flying bat. It’s an autonomous robot called Bat Bot (B2) and it comes remarkably close to replicating the look and style of organic bat flight. Their work was published this week in the science journal Science Robotics.

Mashable Light Speed Want more out-of-this world tech, space and science stories? Sign up for Mashable's weekly Light Speed newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

While most flying robots use rigid wings and propellers to create lift, researchers sought to recreate a bat’s unique structure and complex wing flap.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

What they ended up constructing is the 93-gram Bat Bot B2.

It’s a fully self-contained robot, with an on-board computer and sensors that help it fly and know its position and the relative positions of its elbows, hips and flapping joints. Instead of actuators at each joint, the team used a reduced set of wing joints, letting the thin (56 micrometers), silicon membrane that stretches over the wings and dorsal tail help control wing deformity and flight.

The result is something that, despite being almost white and semi-translucent, looks a lot like a real bat – especially when it flies. It can even perform a bat’s signature move of nose-diving for prey.

Solving the puzzle of bat flight is not just an entertaining exercise. Researchers contend that a robot that can fly with soft, flexible wings and that can turn, mid-air, on a dime, will be safer in an environment in which humans and robots must co-exist. It may also provide new opportunities for search and rescue in difficult environments where quadcopters, which tend to be more dangerous to humans, might fail.

Featured Video For You

A robotic implant that hugs your heart could help it keep beating

Topics DC Comics

Previous：Trump's science adviser pick is actually a good scientist

Next：'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 4: Why Ellie sings 'Take on Me'

【Watch Ava Online】

Related Articles

Related Recommendations

Categories

Latest Articles

Popular Articles

Hot Recommendations

Featured Column

Quick Links

Quick Links