Minuscule RoboBee X-Wing Can Fly Using Solar Energy

Harvard Microrobotics Lab’s researchers have developed the latest version of the RoboBee called the RoboBee X-Wing.

The RoboBee from Harvard researchers is a minuscule robot which gets the inspiration of a bee, of course. The robot has two wings and a weight of less than one-tenth of a gram. However, to have enough power for flying, it had to be tethered to a power source.

On the other hand, the RoboBee X-Wing is the whole new level as it is equipped with an extra pair of wings as well as solar cells for autonomous and more stable flight. The extra pair of wings helps boost the robot’s efficiency by 30% to make up for the added weight of the extra electronics and the solar cells.

However, it still has one disadvantage: the robot can only fly for only half a second using solar panels. The robot is too frail to lug a battery around since the battery is several heavier than the robot itself. Therefore, if the researchers want to put the robot in the wild, they will need to improve solar cell technology and slim down the batteries.

E. Farrell Helbling, a Harvard engineer, who participated in developing the robot and is the co-author of the study, said:

The announcement of RoboBee X-Wing comes after an engineering team of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles came up with Bee+, a four-winged flying robot earlier this year. The robot has a weight of 95 grams, which is heavier than the RoboBee X-Wing.