Longevity beetle and KU Beetle, a longevity beetle robot developed by Professor Park Hoon-cheol of Konkuk University. Reporter Wang Jun-yeol
– The secret agent launches a scarab-like spy robot into the sky. An insect robot that infiltrated the home of a terrorist group without anyone knowing. The agents use the robot’s camera to monitor what’s happening in the room in real time.
[애니띵]The secret of flying a longevity beetle
– This is a scene from the movie’Eye in the sky’, which was released in 2015. Did you know that the insect flying robot that appears only in the movie is being developed in Korea?
#You can check the detailed story through the video.
Korean researchers develop a flying robot that does not fall even if it crashes
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beetle. Konkuk University
– Longevity beetle known as Hercules of the insect world. The longevity beetle, belonging to the order Beetle, is the largest among domestic beetles, and is strong enough to lift 50 times its own weight.
Recently, an interesting paper was published in the international academic journal Science on the longevity beetle. It is said that a domestic research team has developed a flying robot that does not fall even if it collides by simulating the principle of a longevity beetle’s wing.
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Flying scene of a longevity beetle robot taken with a high-speed camera. Even if it collides with an obstacle, it continues to fly without falling. Provided by Konkuk University
– In fact, in the video of the flight scene with a high-speed camera, you can see that the wing continues flying without falling even if it hits an obstacle. How is this possible? On the 10th, to answer my questions, I met Professor Park Hoon-cheol of Konkuk University (Smart Vehicle Engineering) who developed a flying robot.
“Research on ecological imitation since 2005… 5 years only for wing device development”
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Konkuk University Professor Hoon-cheol Park (left) and Dr. Pan Hoang-bu, who developed the longevity beetle robot. Reporter Wang Jun-yeol
– It wasn’t until 2005 that Professor Park, an aerospace scientist, became interested in eco-imitation technology. The longevity beetle normally folds its wings several times to hide it, and then only spreads its wings when flying. To protect the wings from water and natural enemies.
Professor Park paid attention to the ecological characteristics of these beetles, and after 15 years of researching the wings and aircraft technology of the longevity beetle, he developed the insect robot,’KU Beetle’.
- How did you come to study flying beetle?
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- “I have lunch and go around school all the time, and I watched the ladybugs fly with their wings spread and talked about how to imitate that. (Ladybug) was so small that it was very popular to sell the longevity beetle as a pet. That’s why I started my research by purchasing a beetle and observing it.”
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- How can a beetle robot fly without falling?
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- “The long-sleeved beetle folds when its wings hit an obstacle and then opens immediately. When the superelastic shape-deformed alloy (applied to the robot wing) is bent, it collects energy and returns to its original shape.”
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The longevity beetle spread its wings. Reporter Wang Jun-yeol
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- How are drones and insect robots different?
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- “Drones plug the motor directly into the propeller. From a technical point of view such as attitude control and flight, drones are very easy technology. But insects have to change shape by flapping their wings. That way, you can control your posture. So it’s a much more difficult skill.”
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- What was the most difficult thing in the process of developing a beetle robot?
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- “The wing flapping device, which is equivalent to the heart, maintains 180-190 degrees and stably (operation) gives air and control, and I spent the most time there. I think it took almost five years.”
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“Low noise and used as a spy robot”
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An insect spy robot from the movie’I in the Sky’. I in the Sky trailer capture
– Robots that mimic the ecological characteristics of animals from dogs to moles are being developed a lot around the world. In the case of insect robots, they are small, light and energy efficient. Unlike drones, it has less noise. Because of this advantage, it is said that it can be used not only as a spy robot performing covert missions, but also as a robot that explores extreme environments such as Mars.
- Can you really use the longevity beetle robot as a spy like in the movie?
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- “(Watching the movie) We were also surprised. The very shape we thought of, the longevity beetle-mimicking robot comes out. There were a lot of calls from the army or from places like this. If there is a movie in the United States, can we make it in Korea? It’s not now, but if you get to that stage, would you be able to do something like hiding and not being detected by the enemy and performing a mission… .”
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- What do you want to study more in the future?
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- “If our atmospheric density is 1, the density of Mars is 1 in 70. Wouldn’t it be possible to develop a vehicle capable of flying in low air density places like Mars by using the wings of insects? I want to try something like that. It is reported that the flying efficiency of insects is very high, and I would like to do research to increase that efficiency.”
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Reporter Chun Kwon-pil [email protected]
Video = Wang Junyeol
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