
RoboBees manufactured by the Harvard Microrobotics Lab have a 3 centimeter wingspan and weigh only 80 milligrams. Cornell engineers are developing new programming that will make them more autonomous and adaptable to complex environments.
While engineers have had success building tiny, insect-like robots, programming them to behave autonomously like real insects continues to present technical challenges. A group of Cornell engineers has been experimenting with a new type of programming that mimics the way an insect’s brain works, which could soon have people wondering if that fly on the wall is actually a fly.
The amount of computer processing power needed for a robot to sense a gust of wind, using tiny hair-like metal probes imbedded on its wings, adjust its flight accordingly, and plan its path as it attempts to land on a swaying flower would require it to carry a desktop-size computer on its back. Silvia Ferrari, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and director of the Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Controls, sees the emergence of neuromorphic computer chips as a way to shrink a robot’s payload.
Taylor Clawson/Provided
A simulation of the RoboBee stabilized in hovering flight using a biologically-inspired spiking neural network, which learns to adapt to manufacturing irregularities in real time.
Unlike traditional chips that process combinations of 0s and 1s as binary code, neuromorphic chips process spikes of electrical current that fire in complex combinations, similar to how neurons fire inside a brain. Ferrari’s lab is developing a new class of “event-based” sensing and control algorithms that mimic neural activity and can be implemented on neuromorphic chips. Because the chips require significantly less power than traditional processors, they allow engineers to pack more computation into the same payload.
Ferrari’s lab has teamed up with the Harvard Microrobotics Laboratory, which has developed an 80-milligram flying RoboBee outfitted with a number of vision, optical flow and motion sensors. While the robot currently remains tethered to a power source, Harvard researchers are working on eliminating the restraint with the development of new power sources. The Cornell algorithms will help make RoboBee more autonomous and adaptable to complex environments without significantly increasing its weight.
“Getting hit by a wind gust or a swinging door would cause these small robots to lose control. We’re developing sensors and algorithms to allow RoboBee to avoid the crash, or if crashing, survive and still fly,” said Ferrari. “You can’t really rely on prior modeling of the robot to do this, so we want to develop learning controllers that can adapt to any situation.”
To speed development of the event-based algorithms, a virtual simulator was created by Taylor Clawson, a doctoral student in Ferrari’s lab. The physics-based simulator models the RoboBee and the instantaneous aerodynamic forces it faces during each wing stroke. As a result, the model can accurately predict RoboBee’s motions during flights through complex environments.
“The simulation is used both in testing the algorithms and in designing them,” said Clawson, who helped has successfully developed an autonomous flight controller for the robot using biologically inspired programming that functions as a neural network. “This network is capable of learning in real time to account for irregularities in the robot introduced during manufacturing, which make the robot significantly more challenging to control.”
Aside from greater autonomy and resiliency, Ferrari said her lab plans to help outfit RoboBee with new micro devices such as a camera, expanded antennae for tactile feedback, contact sensors on the robot’s feet and airflow sensors that look like tiny hairs.
“We’re using RoboBee as a benchmark robot because it’s so challenging, but we think other robots that are already untethered would greatly benefit from this development because they have the same issues in terms of power,” said Ferrari.
One robot that is already benefiting is the Harvard Ambulatory Microrobot, a four-legged machine just 17 millimeters long and weighing less than 3 grams. It can scamper at a speed of .44 meters-per-second, but Ferrari’s lab is developing event-based algorithms that will help complement the robot’s speed with agility.
Learn more: Engineers program tiny robots to move, think like insects
The Latest on: Insect-like robots
- Robot games: nine of the best mech games on PC on February 7, 2019 at 2:43 am
but it’s hard to resist the appeal of Walking Fortress Balam – a towering robot that stands taller than any skyscraper on the planet. Most of the game features quick on-foot shooter action against wav... […]
- Animal motion and the soft robots of the future on January 28, 2019 at 12:43 am
RoboBee is the first insect-like robot to propel itself smoothly through both air and water © Yufeng Chen/Harvard SEAS The most vulnerable area of the bee is its paper-thin wings, which weigh as much ... […]
- DARPA Wants to Turn Insect Brains into Robot Brains on January 10, 2019 at 3:08 pm
Perhaps the most successful was a robot named Herbert, who could autonomously move around ... and a complex suite of sensors to navigate the environment, Herbert's insect-like programming let it perfo... […]
- Harvard's sticky-footed inspection robot can climb through jet engines on December 19, 2018 at 9:58 pm
Now, a team at Harvard's Wyss Institute has developed small, insect-like robots that can climb inside and through machines to inspect them, saving the trouble of pulling them apart if there's nothing ... […]
- Watch the Snappy, Insect-like Moves of this DIY Quadruped Robot on September 30, 2018 at 4:02 am
Some legged robots end up moving with ponderous deliberation, or wavering in unstable-looking jerks. A few unfortunates manage to do both at once. [MusaW]’s 3D Printed Quadruped Robot, on the other ha... […]
- Dutch engineers develop insect-like robot on September 13, 2018 at 10:48 pm
WASHINGTON: Dutch engineers have developed a novel insect-inspired flying-wing robot, whose exceptional flight qualities can open up new drone applications. The study published on Thursday in the jour... […]
- Robot dogs are having trouble getting jobs, just like humans on August 22, 2018 at 5:47 pm
You could see SpotMini doing search and rescue work, an area of increasing focus for researchers developing robotic snakes, and even swarms of small insect-like robots. But the most exciting possibili... […]
- Robot dogs are coming, but they may be destined for the unemployment line on August 22, 2018 at 6:43 am
You could see SpotMini doing search and rescue work, an area of increasing focus for researchers developing robotic snakes, and even swarms of small insect-like robots. But the most exciting possibili... […]
- This insect-sized wireless robot flies with help of lasers on May 16, 2018 at 9:34 am
A tiny, insect-like robot that operates without the need for an external power source has been developed by scientists. Called RoboFly, the gadget is powered by a laser that activates an on-board circ... […]
- Insect-Like Swarm Robots Ready for Mass Production on October 16, 2017 at 5:00 pm
Autonomous swarms of robots capable of exploring dangerous terrains soon could be deployed in disaster areas like earthquakes now that engineers have developed a method to mass produce them. Students ... […]
via Google News and Bing News