A team from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) and Imperial College London has developed a drone with foldable wings. This also allows it to sail silently, recording wildlife behavior in and around remote waters.
A team from Empa's Sustainability Robotics Laboratory in Dübendorf and the Aerial Robotics Laboratory at Imperial College London has developed a drone that can fly and sail. Both laboratories are headed by Prof. Dr. Mirko Kovac. The small flying robot, called SailMAV, can move on the water in an energy-saving and silent manner. It is designed to record wildlife behavior in remote waters such as mountain lakes or Arctic fjords.
"We were finally able to optimize the aerodynamic properties after mathematical modeling and building some prototypes so that SailMAV can actually sail on the water like a catamaran and fly with its wings open," explained team member André Farinha in an Empa statement. "Waterfowl or mammals on the shore are not disturbed by SailMAV, so the drone can make unbiased statements about, for example, the effects of climate change on the state of the ecosystem."
To enable the small drone to rise out of the water and into the air, it folds the sides of its three-part high-performance wing into a horizontal position within 2 seconds. This gives it a wingspan of just under one meter. It was constructed with a tenth-of-a-millimeter-thin carbon shell and coated with a water-repellent nanoparticle layer. Thus, SailMAV weighs only 520 grams.
Now, the developers are reportedly working to ensure that the drone manages to switch between elements even in windy conditions. It will also be equipped with more complex sensors that will allow it to sail and fly autonomously. ce/mm/Café Europe