flying robots

Engineers have developed tiny flying robots that contain no motors or propellers, instead using sound waves to generate lift and steer through the air. The advance points toward new possibilities for miniature aerial machines in medicine, sensing and environmental monitoring, and researchers say the approach removes the hard limits that batteries and moving parts impose at microscale sizes.

Engineers at UC Davis have developed a tiny flying robot designed to survive collisions, a step toward taking such drones out of the laboratory and into real-world environments. The work, highlighted by the university's College of Engineering, focuses on durability so small aerial robots can operate around people, obstacles and unpredictable conditions outside controlled settings.

A new multi-environment robot has been unveiled that can fly, sail on the surface, and swim underwater, all autonomously without human control. The vehicle, described by Popular Science as transformative, points to a growing trend in robotics toward machines that adapt to air, sea surface, and underwater environments, with potential uses in exploration, monitoring, and research.

Research published in Science describes aerial-aquatic robots designed to exceed what biological animals can do when moving between air and water. The work draws on principles from animals such as diving birds and flying fish, but pushes performance past natural limits in speed, endurance or transitions between the two environments. It points to possible uses in environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and exploring hard-to-reach coastal or marine areas.

Researchers have unveiled a bio-inspired airborne robot capable of making a soft landing on water and then converting into an autonomous sailboat. The hybrid design allows the craft to fly to a target, set down gently on the surface, and continue operating as a sailing vessel, combining aerial mobility with water-based endurance in a single vehicle.