New Sound-Powered Micro-Robots Need No Motors, Battery for Movement
The prototypes used resonant cavities to steer boats and lift microfliers, and one flying design weighed 150 micrograms, researchers said.
6 Articles
6 Articles
New sound-powered micro-robots need no motors, battery for movement
Engineers at Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) have unlocked a way to transform basic sound waves into powerful directional thrust. The technique could create functional micro-machines without onboard motors, batteries, electronics, or gears. The technology adapts the physics of Helmholtz resonance, which is the physical phenomenon behind the hum produced by blowing across a bottle neck. In this resonance, sound exci…
In an innovative step toward the future of robotics, researchers at the Laboratory of Microbiological Systems at EPFL University have developed small boats and aircraft powered entirely by sound. The researchers have created drones and small boats that are powered entirely by sound. Looking ahead: The researchers built small boats and miniature aircraft that convert sound into propulsion. Their 3D-printed cavities respond to specific frequencies…
Scientists create tiny drones and boats powered entirely by sound
The technology was developed by EPFL's MicroBioRobotic Systems Lab in Switzerland, and the study was published in Science Advances. It relies on acoustic resonance: when sound at the right frequency enters a hollow chamber, the air inside vibrates strongly. The cavity directs some of that air through an opening, creating...Read Entire Article
EPFL Develops Sound-Powered Robots Without Electronics
Researchers at the MicroBioRobotic Systems Laboratory, part of EPFL in Switzerland, have turned acoustic energy into movement using a basic physical effect that is easy to replicate at home. Just as blowing across the top of an open bottle creates a tone via Helmholtz resonance, air moving past a cavity causes the trapped air inside […] The post Scientists Just Built Tiny Drones That Fly Without Motors, Batteries, or Any Moving Parts appeared fi…
Researchers Create Microscopic Drones That Rise on Sound Alone
Researchers at EPFL’s MicroBioRobotic Systems laboratory have built ultralight flying machines that carry no motors, batteries, or electronics. Hollow cavities printed into their structures turn ordinary sound waves into focused jets of air. Those jets provide the thrust that lifts the devices off a surface and keeps them aloft. The idea begins with a classic [...]
3D-printed sound-powered jet engines propel micro drones — fliers are completely silent; researchers use ultrasonic frequencies to drive 12,000-RPM silent hovering fliers
(Image credit: EPFL/Science Advance)A research team from Switzerland’s École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) Microbiorobotic Systems Laboratory (MICROBS) has developed a “sound-powered engine” that uses the resonant frequency of a specially shaped 3D-printed cavity to “energize” the air inside it and use it for thrust. The researchers then 3D-printed two small drones that were propelled by sound. Sound waves at specific frequencies mad…
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