Harvard’s RoboBee Can Now Swim by Flapping His Wings at a Rate of 9Hz

By: | October 15th, 2015

YouTube/IEEE Spectrum

Real bees can’t swim as I’m sure you’ve either learned in school or through real-life experiences over the years.

Many a time has a bee landed in my drink, only to result in its demise.

However, Harvard’s RoboBee isn’t like its real-life counterpart, recently demonstrating the ability to swim which can be seen in the videos below.

The RoboBee, which weighs merely 100 milligrams, flaps its wings at a rate of 9Hz instead of 120Hz upon hitting the water to slow its pace and ultimately break the surface tension of the water.

The tiny little robot still needs to be tethered to a power source to work, but its ability to swim is certainly an impressive and promising feature.

Marshall Smith

Technology, engineering, and design enthusiast.

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