Tiny robotic insects to enhance agricultural productivity; that is the vision behind the creation of robotic pollinators by MIT researchers. This can be useful for pollinating plants in controlled environments such as in vertical farming and multilevel farms. This innovative idea can reduce the impact of traditional farming and improve productivity.
Inspired by the anatomy of real pollinators, MIT researchers found a way to combine nature and robotic science together to bring artificial pollination into the agricultural field. These tiny robotic insects can hover for 1000 seconds (up to 17 min), which is 100 times longer than the previous model, and perform double flips and can do precise flight patterns. Along with its artificial muscles and lightweight design, this new model is durable and more efficient.
Researchers are hoping to improve the model with more navigation tools and tiny battery sensors, allowing them to travel autonomously outside of the lab. Further studies are continued on these tiny artificial pollinators such as to make them fly more than 10,000 seconds and improve the precision of landing and takeoff and to attach tiny sensors and batteries for extended flight.
This innovation can tackle the problem of the decline in the natural pollinators, thus blending the technology and nature in an inspiring way. This will transform the way farming is done and gradually increase the food production with future advancement in the model.
