Fairy robot flying by the power of wind and light

The development of stimulus-responsive polymers has provided a multitude of material-related opportunities for next-generation small-scale, wireless-controlled soft-body robots. Engineers have long known how to use these materials to build tiny robots that can walk, swim, and jump. So far, no one has been able to make them fly.

Researchers from the Light Robots group at the University of Tampere are currently working on how to make smart materials fly. Hao Zeng, Academy Researcher and team leader, and Jianfeng Yang, a doctoral researcher, have come up with a new design for their project called FAIRY—Flying Robots Based on Aeronautical Materials Light response. They have developed a polymer assembly robot that flies by the wind and is controlled by light.

Hao Zeng explains: “Beyond the natural seed, this artificial seed is equipped with a soft actuator. The actuator is made of liquid crystal elastomer that reacts to light, creating opening or closing action of hairs when stimulated with visible light”.

Artificial fairy controlled by light

The artificial fairy developed by Zeng and Yang has some biomimetic features. Due to its highly porous structure (0.95) and light weight (1.2 mg), it can be easily suspended in the air thanks to the direction of the wind. Moreover, the stable separate vortex generation allows for long distance travel with the help of the wind.

“Fairies can be powered and controlled by a light sourcesuch as a lasers or LEDs,” says Zeng.

This means that light can be used to change the shape of small structures like dandelion seeds. The fairy can manually adapt to the direction and force of the wind by changing its shape. A beam of light can also be used to control the take-off and landing of the polymer complex.

Potential applications in agriculture

Next, the researchers will focus on improving the sensitivity of the material to allow the device to work in sunlight. In addition, they will scale the structure so that it can carry microelectronics such as GPS and sensors as well as biochemical compounds.

According to Zeng, there is potential for even more important applications.

“It sounds like Science Fictionbut the proof-of-concept experiments in our study show that the robot we have developed provides an important step towards suitable practical applications for artificial pollination,” he said.

In the future, millions of artificial dandelion seeds carrying pollen could be freely dispersed by natural winds and then directed by light to specific areas of plants awaiting pollination.

“This will have a huge impact on agriculture globally because of the loss of pollinators due to global warming has become a serious threat to biodiversity and food production,” Zeng said.

Challenges still unresolved

However, many problems need to be addressed first. For example, how to control the landing point precisely and how to reuse the devices and make them biodegradable? These problems require close collaboration with materials scientists and those working on microrobotics.

The FAIRY project started in September 2021 and will last until August 2026. The flying robot was studied in collaboration with Dr. Wenqi Hu from the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems (Germany) and Dr. Hang Zhang from Aalto University.

The article, “Light-controlled, dandelion-inspired, dispersive polymer complex,” by Jianfeng Yang, Hang Zhang, Alex Berdin, Wenqi Hu and Hao Zeng, was published in the journal Advanced Science on December 27, 2022.

Provided by University of Tampere