Skip to main content

This amazingly acrobatic winged robot moves just like a fruit fly

DelFly Nimble - an agile insect-inspired robot

Humans may have to worry about robots taking their jobs, but you know who else should probably be watching their back? Fruit flies! At least, that’s if you’re going by a new robotic creation from researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. They have built an awesomely agile, quad-wing flapping robot, which can exhibit the same kind of winged motion as its insect inspiration. It’s the latest robot in a series of so-called DelFly robots created by the researchers — but with one very important twist.

Recommended Videos

“Our previous DelFly robots had an airplane-like tail, which made it stable, and was used for steering,” Matěj Karásek, who led the work, told Digital Trends. “Fruit flies, but also other insects, have no such tail. Instead, they control their flight by adjustments of the motion patterns of [their] flapping wings. The DelFly Nimble does the same: It uses its flapping wings not only to produce lift force that keeps it flying, but also for control. The loss of tail makes it much more agile, like flying insects.”

DelFly’s four wings let it control three axes of flight. With them, it’s able to exhibit some dazzlingly fly-like moves — and even a full 360-degree flip. At present, it’s able to fly for only around five minutes, however. That limits its usefulness, but with the proper amendments, this could well change in the future.

“Currently, the robot can already carry a small camera, sending live images to the operator, and can fly for more than a kilometer when fully charged,” Karásek continued. “We are already working on making the drone fully autonomous by adding a camera system as in our previous DelFly Explorer.”

Guido de Croon, another researcher on the project, said that the flapping wing propulsion the team has developed will make it possible to more easily miniaturize versatile flying robots in the future. De Croon imagines “swarms of these tiny, fully autonomous robots pollinating plants in greenhouses, or searching for survivors in collapsed buildings after earthquakes.”

That’s out of reach for now, but — even taken purely as a technical demonstration of the power of biomimicry — the latest DelFly is pretty impressive in its own right.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Science.

Luke Dormehl
I'm a UK-based tech writer covering Cool Tech at Digital Trends. I've also written for Fast Company, Wired, the Guardian…
Robotic police officers are slowly being normalized, whether we like it or not
robot law enforcement normalization nypd digidog

The classic 1987 movie RoboCop is said to be set roughly 20 years from now, but it looks like 2021 will be the beginning of the era of robotic law enforcement. A growing number of police departments around the country are purchasing robots for police work, and as this behavior becomes normalized, major concerns are starting to arise.

The NYPD purchased a robot dog earlier this year that is apparently capable of opening doors. The same kind of robot police dog has been tested out by the Massachusetts State Police. The use of drones by police departments has skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Police departments around the country have purchased the weeble-wobble-looking robot Knightscope robot that apparently enjoys running over children's feet and ignoring people who need help.

Read more
The Ioniq 5 is once again eligible for the $7,500 tax credit
2025 Hyundai Ioniq 5

After a brief and confusing absence, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is once again eligible for the full $7,500 federal tax credit — and this time, it's sticking around (at least for now). So, what happened? Let’s unpack the ride.

The Ioniq 5, a sleek and tech-savvy electric crossover, initially made headlines not just for its design, but for being built at Hyundai’s brand-new Metaplant in Georgia. That domestic assembly qualified it for the EV tax credit under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which requires vehicles to be made in North America with batteries sourced from trade-friendly countries. But early in 2025, the Ioniq 5 vanished from the list. Why? Likely due to its battery packs, which were then still being sourced from SK On’s Hungarian facility.

Read more
Sebastian Stan lays out Bucky’s future after Thunderbolts
Sebastian Stan in Thunderbolts.

There are some spoilers ahead for the ending of Marvel's Thunderbolts. Stop reading now if you don't want to be spoiled.

Earlier this year, Captain America: Brave New World briefly introduced a new direction for James "Bucky" Barnes, a character Sebastian Stan has been playing since 2011 in Captain America: The First Avenger. In Brave New World, the former Winter Soldier apparently retired from being a reformed hero and went into politics by running for Congress. Thunderbolts reveals that Bucky won his election to the House of Representatives. But his stay in Congress was short.

Read more