Tiny ‘FAIRY Robots’ May Help Boost Pollination For Agri Products Whose Pollinators Are In Decline

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The world is just getting cooler and cooler, and once again, we have science to thank. In fact, the future is endless.

Think about the natural way to pollenate, but instead of that, there could actually be millions of artificially made dandelion seeds carrying pollen, that could be naturally dispersed through wind and steered by light to particular areas where trees and flowers are waiting to be pollenated.

This exact idea for such a crazy idea for pollination was recently invented using a polymer-assembly robot that flies by wind and controlled by light. And this inspiration comes from dandelion seeds, which oftentimes, young children would just sit and watch as the seeds fly after blowing them into the wind.

It was he Tempere University’s “Light Robots” group that developed this protype using smart materials in order to produce soft-bodied robots that are capable of moving themselves around using natural environment stimuli rather than hard circuitry or robotics.


In fact, they are so light that they can be carried around the wind, which in essence, could completely change the game for such produce as apples, almonds, and other flowers that have been in danger of major pollinator populations decline.

According to the research group lead, Hao Zeng, “This would have a huge impact on agriculture globally since the loss of pollinators due to global warming has become a serious threat to biodiversity and food production.”

During the development of this particular invention, the research group found that their production of stimuli-responsive polymers have now opened up major highways for ‘next-generation, small-scale, and wirelessly controlled soft-bodies robots.’

Through recent years, scientists and engineers have already known how to use certain materials to create small robots with the ability to walk, jump, and swim. Notably, another report was shared about how these incredibly small and soft robotics in the medical field can even deliver targeted medication, breakup blood clots, and even clean teeth.

However, no one has been able to make them fly, until now.

Hao Zeng and his colleague, Jianfeng Yang, are the ones behind this amazing groundbreaking project, which they’ve named FAIRY or Flying Aero-robots, which they based on Light Responsive Materials Assembly. And in their work, they’ve managed to develop a polymer-assembly robot that can both fly wind and is controlled by light.

Hao Zeng shares, “Superior to its natural counterparts, this artificial seed is equipped with a soft actuator. The actuator is made of light-responsive liquid crystalline elastomer, which induces opening or closing actions of the bristles upon visible light excitation.”

Moreover, these artificial FAIRYs that were developed by Zeng and Yang also have many biomimetic features. They also weigh just 1.2 milligrams and can even float easily in the air as directed by the wind.


“The fairy can be powered and controlled by a light source, such as a laser beam or LED,” Zeng adds. What this means is that the light can even change the change of these miniscule dandelion seed-like structures.

In addition, the FAIRY can also manually adapt to the wind direction and force by simply changing its shape. Plus, a light beam can also be used to control the take-off and landing requirements of the tiny polymer assembly.

Zeng also explains, “It sounds like science fiction, but the proof-of-concept experiments included in our research show that the robot we have developed provides an important step towards realistic applications suitable for artificial pollination,”

But, like with any other project or new development, there are still quite a lot of problems that need to be corrected and fixed. One example is the way to control the landing spot in an exact or precise way, as well as how to reuse these devices while also making them biodegradable in the long run. These types of issues need very close collaboration with people who work with these particular materials, as well as those that are used to working with micro-robotics.

See more about this project in the video below:

 

 

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