June 15, 2012 05:27pm ETClumsy Insects Inspire Clever Flying Robot AirBurr Robot Drone The AirBurr robot can explore indoor enviroments while actively bumping into walls in midflight. Credit: EPFL View full size image

Most flying robots resemble larger helicopters or aircraft that can't risk hard collisions or catastrophic crashes. But a Swiss robot takes a different approach based on flying insects — it can survive clumsily bumping into walls and learn about its environment based on such bumps.

The idea allows the AirBurr robot to navigate within claustrophobic, cluttered conditions indoors or underground without the added sensors or complicated software "brains" needed for avoiding collisions. That could lead to faster deployment of robots in search-and-rescue operations in the aftermath of natural disasters, nuclear meltdowns or similarly dangerous scenarios.

"We believe that this new paradigm will bring flying robots out of the laboratory and allow them to tackle unstructured, cluttered environments," according to Swiss researchers in a 2012 paper for the International Conference on Complex Medical Engineering.

The flying AirBurr robot can pick itself up again on four wiry legs after it falls from the air.Credit: EPFLView full size image

The Swiss researchers at école Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have been testing the AirBurr robot — a hovering drone that resembles a computer's electronic innards stuffed inside a bullet-shaped carbon fiber cage. The lightweight, flexible cage allows the robot to protect its rotors and electronic guts, as well as mimic the way that insects survive collisions with windows or walls.

Four carbon-fiber legs tucked inside the robot can also extend to help it get back on its feet after colliding and falling from the air.

The ability to actively bump around unfamiliar environments means that AirBurr could navigate even with the loss of GPS indoors or underground. Having cheap swarms of such robots may prove the path forward for making robots ready for the real world.

This story was provided by InnovationNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. You can follow InnovationNewsDaily on Twitter @News_Innovation, or on Facebook.

笨拙的昆虫激发智能机器人的灵感 - 机器人AirBurr

2012年6月15日下午5时27 ETClumsy昆虫启发聪明的飞行机器人AirBurr机器人Drone 的AirBurr机器人可以探索室内enviroments同时，积极撞到墙壁midflight。图片来源：EPFL查看原图

大部分飞行机器人像大型直升机或飞机不能冒险硬碰撞或灾难性的崩溃。但瑞士的机器人需要根据飞虫注释 - 不同的方法;它可以生存笨拙地撞到墙壁和了解其环境基于这样的颠簸.

这个想法让AirBurr机器人在幽闭，杂乱的条件导航在室内或地下没有增加传感器或复杂的软件＆QUOT;大脑＆QUOT;需要避免碰撞。这可能导致更快的部署机器人的搜索和救援行动的自然灾害，核熔毁或类似的危险情景.

u0026 QUOT的后果，我们认为，这一新的模式将带来飞行机器人走出实验室，让他们解决非结构化的，杂乱的环境中，与QUOT;根据瑞士的研究人员在2012年的论文对复杂医学工程国际会议.

飞行AirBurr机器人可以再次拿起了自己的四个结实的腿它属于后从air.Credit：EPFLView原图

瑞士研究人员在与Eacute;科尔理工学院F＆eacute; D＆eacute;罗音洛桑（EPFL）一直在测试的AirBurr机器人＆mdash;一个无人驾驶飞机徘徊，类似于一个子弹形状的碳纤维笼子里塞了计算机的电子内脏。轻便，灵活笼允许机器人，以保护其转子和电子胆量，以及模拟的方式，昆虫生存的碰撞窗口或墙壁.

机器人里面夹着四个碳纤维腿也可以延长，以帮助其找回在它的脚下碰撞，从空中.

下跌后

积极碰到周围陌生的环境的能力意味着AirBurr甚至可以与GPS的导航损失室内或地下。有了这样的机器人便宜群可以证明的前进道路作出的机器人准备好现实世界.

这个故事是由InnovationNewsDaily，一个姊妹网站，以生活科学提供的。