In this episode we talk to Ron Fearing who is the director of the Biomimetic Millisystem Laboratory at UC Berkeley in California. He presents the state of the art in aerial insect-size flapping robots with the Micromechanical Flying Insect (MFI) project. The MFI is directly inspired from extensive studies done on the flight of flies (Dickinson Lab) which are capable of beating their wings at 200Hz in sequences of complex strokes aided by unique wing morphologies. While it's ready to take-off, the MFI is still facing the most challenging aspects of miniaturization with autonomy, control in turbulent environments and hardware. Thanks to his know-how in millisystems he's also been designing tools and kits for the rapid-prototyping of miniature robots of all types which might one-day be used in high-school science classes, or is it art?



The Biomimetic Millisystem Lab has also been very active in the field of gecko adhesives. Don't miss alumni Metin Sitti's interview on the subject.

Links:

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• Ron Fearing's homepage