MIT, EPFL unveil 300-gram flapping-wing robot

Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne have developed a lightweight robot capable of both flying and swimming, inspired by the biomechanics of diving birds like puffins. The flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle, weighing less than 300 grams, successfully demonstrated its ability to transition from water to air in field tests at Lake Geneva.

The robot features a central fuselage housing a waterproof electric motor and battery, two flexible wings, and a steerable tail. Its design overcomes the significant challenge of operating in two mediums with vastly different densities. Instead of using complex, transforming components, the engineers mimicked the natural strategy observed in small birds, which maintain consistent wing mechanics while adjusting flapping speed. The robot flaps its flexible, nanoparticle-coated wings at a steady rate of approximately five beats per second, achieving speeds of about 1 meter per second underwater and 6 meters per second in the air.

A critical engineering hurdle was the water-to-air transition, which requires considerable power to overcome surface tension. Researchers found...