Biology-inspired flying insect robots for boundary-layer atmospheric telemetry
Join us for our upcoming Future Computing Seminar Series
Speaker: Prof. Sawyer Fuller, University of Washington
Date: July 2nd, 2024, 16:30 CET
Where: ETZ E8 & external page Online
Abstract:
Creating a tiny, flying insect robot the size of a bee or fly (an "FIR") that operates fully autonomously is a moonshot project that will require miniaturization advances throughout the robotics stack, from microfabrication to flight autonomy. Their most promising application will be something akin to a weather balloon for low-altitude urban or agricultural settings. Equipped with the ability to sense the air, flying insect robots will fly indoors and out to detect hazardous leaks or unhealthy indoors, or fires or agricultural disease in foliage. Realizing such robots will require a systematic understanding of how the physics of small scales affects sensing and control, and ample inspiration from biology. They will be able to power themselves from weak sources, such as indoor lighting, and do not pose an impact hazard for humans. I will discuss recent advances from our research group, the Autonomous Insect Robotics Laboratory that include the first wireless flight, solar power harvesting, an ultra-miniature avionics system, and using the antenna of an insect to seek out odor sources.
Bio:
Sawyer Fuller is an Assistant Professor (Associate Professor with tenure as of 9/2024). He creates biologically-inspired sensors, control systems, and mechanical designs targeted at insect-sized air and ground vehicles, and investigates the flight systems of aerial insects. He completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard, his Ph.D. in Biological Engineering at the California Institute of Technology, and B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His work at the intersection of robotics and biology has appeared in Science, Science Robotics, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.