New Harvard RoboBee jumps from aquatic to aerial

The updated model is the work of the university’s John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and Wyss Institute for Biologically-Inspired Engineering. Modelled on insects, the tiny device uses wings to propel itself through water towards the surface. Once there, water is collected in a buoyancy chamber where an electrolytic plate produces oxyhydrogen, lifting the wings just off the water.

Surface tension keeps the robot upright as the wings start to flap, then a sparker ignites the combustible oxyhydrogen, propelling RoboBee into the air. The robot is also able to transition from air to water. According to the researchers, hybrid aerial-aquatic robots such as this could be used for environmental exploration and search & rescue.

“This is the first microrobot capable of repeatedly moving in and through complex environments,” said Yufeng Chen, a former graduate student at the SEAS Microrobotics Lab and first author of the paper, which appears in Science Robotics.