” Global Nation of Yisira-el”
Date: 28 Jan 2020
Robot bats? What sounds like a person’s sci-fi nightmare could soon help those lost in the wilderness or trapped in a collapsed building.
N.C. State University researchers have constructed small robots that would use a bats extraordinary flight skills to get into small spaces other rescue equipment and personnel can’t. The mechanical bats could search a large area for missing hikers or relay cell-phone signals to those who’ve lost their way, The Raleigh News and Observerreported yesterday.
The school’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering has worked on the project. Scientists there have built several prototypes of a bat’s skeleton and properties of how bats fly.
Stefan Seelecke, an associate professor, oversees the robot bat project. He says the flying patterns of bats look haphazard, but they can change direction quickly and easily maneuver through tight places.
Seelecke said researchers are taking advantage of the work that nature has already done.
“There are about 900 kinds of bats,” Seelecke said. “So there are plenty of different (flight) characteristics among them.”
A computer shapes the cyberbat’s body shells and some wing “bones” made of lightweight plastic. Other parts are made of an alloy of titanium and nickel that scientists say gives a full range of natural motion and returns to its original position.