Controlled Flight of a Biologically Inspired, Insect-Scale Robot

Lord of the Robotic Flies While small-scale flying objects are ubiquitous in nature, they are quite hard to engineer. As sizes get smaller, fixed-winged flight becomes less efficient because of increased drag resistance. Ma et al. (p. 603 ) developed a tethered robotic fly with wings that flap through the use of piezo-electric materials. Control of the flight motion involved a feedback process, which allowed the tethered robotic fly to hover and make controlled flight maneuvers.