Why are robot flies called the perfect "007"?

Everyone is familiar with the film 007. The protagonist in it went deep into the den many times and successfully completed various tasks. However, not long ago, the United States developed a robot fly, which may become a super "007" in the future. Although this kind of robot fly is very small, it is very capable.

Flies are always unpopular, but now, senior officials of the Pentagon and many biological research institutes in the United States are paying attention to this humble animal with unprecedented enthusiasm. A few days ago, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, announced that they had made the world's first flying "machine fly" by using the principle of bionics.

Although flies are small, they can fly at a speed of 40 kilometers per hour; If the situation is found, it can take off quickly within 0.03 seconds; Flies only consume 0. 1 gram of food when flying all day. A biologist at the University of California, Berkeley, said, "Flies are the most stable flying insects and have the best mobility. In the animal world, flies are jet fighters. "

The robot fly displayed by the University of California is called "Black Widow", which weighs only 300 mg and is less than 3 cm tall. Matt king Nong Nong, the project leader, said, "Its flying height is over 100 meters. People can hardly find it with the naked eye, but it can take extremely clear photos and send them back. " However, scientists say that at present, this robot fly flies too fast to control its own direction. And their ideal robot fly should be fast and slow, change direction at any time, judge the surrounding situation by itself, and hide in an unknown corner.

Although the development of robot flies is still in the primary stage, its broad application prospects have attracted widespread attention. The Pentagon of the United States attaches great importance to robot flies that are expected to become "micro spies" and has been strongly supporting this research since 1998. They imagine that robot flies can help the military accomplish arduous tasks, such as reconnaissance of caves in Afghanistan or searching for secret weapons in Iraq. In future wars, robot flies can even fly to enemy headquarters with micro-explosives, kill their commanders or blow up all the instruments in their command center. In short, the robot fly will complete the tasks that 007 could not complete in the past and become a veritable "super spy".

Researchers say that there will be many sensors and micro cameras installed on robot flies in the future, so there are still many things they can do. For example, it can be used to find forest fires and search for survivors in the ruins of disasters. In space exploration, robot flies are also promising. In the future, after landing on a new planet, the robot fly can take the place of astronauts and complete the work of taking photos, taking videos and sampling under various complicated conditions.

Although the prospect of robot flying is promising, it is very difficult to really make it fly. There are 20 muscles with different functions on the wings of flies. How to imitate muscle movement to fly has become the focus of research. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, spent four years and nearly 2,000 hours researching to find out how the wings of flies work. The researchers made more than 30 models. Finally, they made bionic wings with a length of only 10mm, a width of 3 mm and a thickness of 5 microns by using polyimide, which is similar to cellophane. It can flap 150 times per second, and it can also make robot flies semi-autonomously fly on thin wires. Scientists say that they hope to make robot flies take off, fly in the air and land like real flies in the next two years.

Another difficult problem in the research and development of robot flies is fuel and drive. Due to the limited size, future robot flies must use efficient micro-drive equipment. Professor Epstein is developing a micro turbojet engine in MIT's laboratory. Experts say that the future micro-jet engine is expected to be reduced to the size of a grain of rice, but its power is enough for robot flies to fly for several days without landing.