Next-gen drones: 'Bat-bot' makes the Batmobile look obsolete

February 3, 2017 --The dark knight could be getting a gear upgrade, thanks to a three-person robotics team. Anyone who's seen bats wheeling and swooping at dusk as they hunt for insects knows their unparalleled maneuverability. This fact hasn't escaped the notice of roboticists, who frequently take inspiration from natural sources, but bat-wing complexity has proved challenging to mimic. On Wednesday, a team from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the California Institute of Technology published a paper outlining the construction of one of the most bat-like flying robots yet. Bats put birds to shame in terms of agility and efficiency, say the researchers.