Festo’s Robot Dragonfly
Dragonflies are clever fliers—they can hover, accelerate quickly, stop on a dime, glide, and even fly backwards. As Festo notes, “For the first time, there is a model that can master more flight conditions than a helicopter, plane and glider combined.”
The robot is driven by nine servos, a battery, and an ARM
microcontroller stowed in a flexible polyamide and terpolymer
structure. The head and tail are moved by passing an electrical current
through nitinol
muscles. The computer controls the frequency (15–20 Hz), twisting (90
deg), and amplitude (50 deg) of its four carbon fiber and foil wings
and, by taking in a constant stream of wing data and body position,
corrects for vibration for stable flight indoors or out. (For more,
check out the BionicOpter brochure here.)