TechBlog

By Kimberly Patch, Technology Research News

It turns out that butterflies’ fluttering is neither random nor clumsy.

Researchers from Oxford University in England have devised a method of studying the way butterflies fly, and their initial results show that the insects have many more tricks of flight than they get credit for.

The researchers trained red admiral butterflies to fly between artificial flowers in a wind tunnel, and recorded the way air flowed around their wings using smoke and high-resolution cameras. The work provides fodder for researchers working on insect-sized flying robots.

Continue reading ‘Butterflies offer lessons for robots’ »

A Spy And A RoboFly:

This radio-controlled insect-like aircraft is actually a robotic dragonfly spy called DelFly II developed by robot jockeys at the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. It can fly for at least 15 minutes and can take off and land vertically, and can even fly backwards. Imagine this robot improved even further; its developers is planning to create a DelFly Nano with a wingspan of just two inches, making it effectively invisible. Check out the video after the jump.

Here is its Video:

I’m in two minds about this story - impressed, because nanotechnology is cool and tiny robots are even cooler, but more than a little disturbed at the idea of killer robots flying around and zapping people in the neck.  Reuters is reporting that Israel are developing a bionic hornet that could chase, photograph and eventually kill enemy combatants or terrorists.  Able to navigate tightly confined areas and so small as to be difficult to target by traditional weaponry, the concept is expected to reach prototype stage within three years.

It’s uncertain as yet whether the robots would be remotely controlled or have some sort of AI, though a combination of both is perhaps most likely; general targeting by remote, while short-range sensors automatically manage obstacle avoidance, tracking and flight.

The motors are not really servos, they are more like digital actuators and are called AIMotors because they have all these cool features like position and current feedback. This particular model is the second gen of the Ai series, the AI701 specially designed for robotics by Korean manufacturer MegaRobotics. The dog kit used fourteen of these AI701 modules for the dog’s body and head. The more powerful AI1001 is also available. More on this when I get some free time.

You can find the kit at Tribotix and also E-Clec-Tech for a bit less.

Continue reading ‘MGR-K401 Robotic Dog’ »

Mechatronics is the synergistic combination of mechanical engineering (”mecha” for mechanisms, i.e., machines that ‘move’),electronics engineering (”tronics” for electronics), and software engineering. The purpose of this interdisciplinary engineering field is the study of automata from an engineering perspective and serves the purposes of controlling advanced hybrid systems.

Continue reading ‘What Is Mechatronics..?’ »