Festo develops autonomous bee robots for swarm flight

Drones Autonomous bees fly in a swarm

2024-04-26 From Thomas Kuther | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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Festo has developed autonomous robots in the shape of bees that can fly in large numbers and completely autonomously in a swarm.

For more than 15 years, Festo has been engaged in the fascination of flying as part of its Bionic Learning Network. In addition to the technical deciphering of bird flight, the team has explored and technologically implemented numerous other flying objects and their natural principles. With the BionicBee, the Bionic Learning Network has now for the first time developed a flying object that can fly in large numbers and completely autonomously in a swarm. The BionicBee presents its first flight show at the Hannover Messe 2024.

The smallest flying object of the Bionic Learning Network to date

At about 34 grams, a length of 220 mm and a wingspan of 240 mm, the BionicBee is the smallest flying object of the Bionic Learning Network to date. For the first time, the developers used the methodology of generative design: after entering a few parameters, a software based on defined design principles finds the optimal structure to use as little material as possible while maintaining the most stable construction. This consistent lightweight construction is elementary for good maneuverability and flight duration.

Gallery

Natural flight maneuvers with four degrees of freedom: The artificial bee flies with a beat frequency of 15 to 20 hertz. The wings beat back and forth at a 180-degree angle.(Image: Festo)

Functional integration in the smallest space: The bee's body contains the compact construction for the wing-beating mechanism, the communication technology, and the control components for wing-beating and the adjustment of the wing geometry.(Image: Festo)

Collision-free flight: To fly in a swarm, the bees follow the paths predetermined by a central computer. The autonomous bee Bionicbee: was designed with generative design.(Image: Festo)

Autonomous swarm flying

The autonomous behavior of the bee swarm is made possible with the help of an indoor localization system using Ultra-Wide-Band technology (UWB). For this purpose, eight UWB anchors are installed in the room on two levels. This allows for precise runtime measurement and the bees can locate themselves in the room. The UWB anchors send signals to the individual bees, which independently measure the distances to the respective transmitter elements and calculate their own position in the room based on the timestamps.

The bees follow predetermined paths

To fly in a swarm, the bees follow the paths predetermined by a central computer. A high degree of spatial and temporal accuracy is necessary for safe and collision-free flight in tight formation. The possible mutual interaction due to air turbulence ("down-wash") must also be considered in the path planning.

All bees are handmade

Since each bee is built by hand and even the smallest manufacturing differences can influence the flight behavior, the bees also have an automatic calibration function: After a short test flight, each bee determines its individually optimized controller parameters. The intelligent algorithm can thus calculate the hardware differences between the individual bees and the entire swarm can be controlled from the outside as if all bees were identical. (tk)

Optical Encoder: The iC-PXL3212 developed by iC-Haus can be used in both linear and rotary applications. The encoder ICs can be used in medical technology, automobile manufacturing, or industry. (Image:iC-Haus)

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