Tiny Drones Team Up to Open Doors

In a move inspired by natural engineering, robotics researchers have demonstrated how tiny palm-size drones can forcefully tug objects 40 times their own mass by anchoring themselves to the ground or to walls. It's a glimpse into how small drones could more actively manipulate their environment in a way similar to humans or larger robots. "Teams of these drones could work cooperatively to perform more complex manipulation tasks," says Matt Estrada, a PhD student in mechanical engineering at Stanford University. "We demonstrated opening a door, but this approach could be extended to turning a ball valve, moving a piece of debris, or retrieving an object of interest from a disaster zone." Winged creatures such as birds, bats, and insects can only lift objects that are about five times their own weight when flying. But Estrada and his colleagues from Stanford University and the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne in Switzerland looked instead to the practical approach taken by predatory wasps, which land on the ground to drag larger prey back to their nests.