JAPAN: Japanese researchers unveil robot hummingbirds

Record ID: 401608

  • Title: JAPAN: Japanese researchers unveil robot hummingbirds
  • Date: 1st February 2010
  • Summary: CHIBA, JAPAN (JANUARY 19, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF RESEARCHER CONTROLLING HUMMINGBIRD ROBOT WITH REMOTE ROBOT WINGS POWERED BY MOTOR, GEARS AND SHAFTS RESEARCHER HOLDING HUMMINGBIRD ROBOT IN HAND SIGNBOARD READING "CHIBA UNIVERSITY" IN JAPANESE AT THE MAIN GATE HUMMINGBIRD ROBOT TAKING OFF FROM RESEARCHER'S HAND RESEARCHER CONTROLLING FLUTTERING HUMMINGBIRD VARIOU
  • Embargoed: 16th February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA18ME68ZOG79TMYIXICAPWYG7Y
  • Story Text: A team of Japanese researchers at Chiba University, near Tokyo have developed a "hummingbird robot" that flutters freely with the use of an infrared remote control.
    The palm-sized robot weighs just 2.6 grams (0.09 ounces) and has everything it needs to fly, including a 0.3-gram (0.01 once)-light micro motor, similarly weighted lithium polymer battery, infrared rays receiver, and carbon fibre frames and gears.
    The milky membranes used for its four wings are light in cost, too - with researchers using plastic shopping bags.
    The robot is now able to fly for 6 minutes and up to 10 metres above ground, but the next steps will be to make it hover like a real hummingbird and equip it with a micro camera, researchers said.
    "The hummingbird is the only species among birds that can hover in the air, so a robotic hummingbird with the same skill can be used to take pictures of targets from various angles," mechanics professor at Chiba University Hao Liu, who developed the robot, told Reuters.
    The robot was designed to be used in emergency circumstances to access to spots not accessible by humans, according to Liu.
    "A small flying robot equipped with a camera can collect information from areas not accessible by humans, such as sites hit by disaster or terrorism," said Liu.
    Scientists in the U.S. have also been developing miniscule flying robots that can collect images that humans can't reach. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California have developed a "Robofly," a flying robot the size of a housefly that can sneak into enemies camps to collect spy images.
    But, Liu think flies are not a suitable model because they are neither big enough to attach a camera nor as stable when flying.
    Liu's team expect their robot hummingbirds to hover higher and longer during this year when they upgrade the infrared rays receiver, which now works only within 20 metres boundary.
    A micro camera will also be attached to the robot in 2011 at the earliest, researchers said.
    ENDS.
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