Google – AFP, Jan Hennop (AFP), 23 February 2014
 |
A view of
the DelFly Explorer, the world's lightest autonomous flapping drone,
during a
demonstration at the Delft Technical University, on January 29, 2014
(AFP/File,
Charles Onians)
|
Delft —
Dutch scientists have developed the world's smallest autonomous flapping drone,
a dragonfly-like beast with 3-D vision that could revolutionise our experience
of everything from pop concerts to farming.
"This
is the DelFly Explorer, the world's smallest drone with flapping wings that's
able to fly around by itself and avoid obstacles," its proud developer
Guido de Croon of the Delft Technical University told AFP.
Weighing
just 20 grammes (less than an ounce), around the same as four sheets of printer
paper, the robot dragonfly could be used in situations where much heavier
quadcopters with spinning blades would be hazardous, such as flying over the
audience to film a concert or sport event.
 |
A view of
the DelFly Explorer, the world's
lightest autonomous flapping drone, next to a
F-16 army plane during a demonstration at
the Delft Technical University, on
January 29,
2014 (AFP, Charles Onians)
|
And like an
insect, the drone which has a wingspan of 28 centimetres (11 inches), would
feel at home flying around plants.
"It
can for instance also be used to fly around and detect ripe fruit in
greenhouses," De Croon said, with an eye on the Netherlands' vast indoor
fruit-growing business.
"Or
imagine, for the first time there could be an autonomous flying fairy in a
theme park," he said.
- 'Real
small insects' -
Unlike
other drones that use rotor blades and can weigh hundreds of times as much, the
Explorer has two wings on each side that flap rapidly to create lift.
"We
got our inspiration from real small insects," De Croon said.
While
smaller "flapping" drones exist, such as the RoboBee developed by
students at Harvard University in the United States, they are tethered for
power, control and processing, and thus far from autonomous.
The
Explorer has its own small lithium polymer battery that allows it to fly for around
nine minutes, while it "sees" with its onboard processor and a
specially-developed algorithm to make instant decisions.
It has
wireless analog video, gyroscopes and a barometer to calculate its height.
Different
algorithms would allow it to perform different tasks, and because it is
autonomous it could be sent into enclosed spaces such as concrete buildings or
mine shafts, where radio control would be impossible, to search for casualties
or hazards.
"The
DelFly knows precisely where obstacles are located," said De Croon as the
aircraft, built from composite materials including carbon fibre, fluttered
towards a wall during a demonstration flight before veering elegantly away in
search of another route.
 |
Chief
Developer Guido de Croon releases the DelFly Explorer, the world's lightest
autonomous flapping drone, during a demonstration at the Delft Technical
University,
on January 29, 2014 (AFP, Charles Onians)
|
The idea of
building a flapping-winged drone began around nine years ago when a group of
students at Delft Technical University's prestigious aerospace faculty first
designed the DelFly I.
Over the
next few years, research continued and the machine became smaller and smaller,
said Sjoerd Tijmons, 28, who helped write the algorithm for the latest DelFly
Explorer's "brain".
An earlier
incarnation, the DelFly Micro with a wingspan of 10 centimetres, was in 2008
declared the "smallest camera equipped aircraft in the world" by the
Guinness Book of Records.
But De
Croon admits that humans are not quite able to produce swarms of autonomous
robotic insects the size of bees or flies, mainly because of restrictions on
battery life.
"Still
there are some major challenges... and if I have to put a number on it, I think
we are still a few decades away," he laughed.
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