At the University of Tampere, Finland, scientists are investigating how to make intelligent material for flight. They have now developed a small polymer flying robot that is carried only by the wind and controlled by light. The idea is that crops can be pollinated with it in the future.
Researchers Hao Zeng and Jianfeng Yang of the Light Robots Group at the University of Tampere have developed a design that addresses precisely this challenge. The project has been aptly named Flying Aero-Robots Based on Light Responsive Materials Assembly (FAIRY for short).
Robot weighs only 1.2 milligrams
Due to its high porosity and its very low weight of only 1.2 milligrams, the small robot can float in the wind as a feather. But that is not everything. “FAIRY can be powered and controlled by a light source such as a laser beam or an LED,” explains scientist Zeng.
The super light robot has the potential to fulfill an important task in agriculture in the future. “It sounds like science fiction, but our proof-of-concept experiments show that FAIRY is an important step towards realistic applications suitable for artificial pollination,” says Zeng.
Bees are irreplaceable little helpers for our earth’s ecosystem. Because the pollination of a large part of the plants ensures the richness of the food chain. The genius Albert Einstein is already credited with the quote: “When the bee dies, man dies…” If there were fewer and fewer, FAIRY could actually be an alternative for crop pollination.
Source: Krone
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