Watch the newly developed ‘vampire bat’ DALER drone walk and fly

Watch the newly developed ‘vampire bat’ DALER drone walk and fly

The drone can fly distances, unlike a rotary-wing drone, and it can land and take off again, unlike a fixed-wing unmanned air vehicle.

Scientists have created a drone that resembles a vampire bat in that it can both fly and walk.

Known as the Deployable Air-Land Exploration Robot (DALER), it was created by the Swiss research institute EPFL and has foldable wings that allow the drone to fly, and can be retracted to allow it to walk like a bat on the ground, according to an IEEE Spectrum report.

The drone is able to fly at a rate of 20 meters per second, and it can walk at 6 centimeters per second — not the fastest walker out there, but certainly unique in the fact that it can do that and fly.

The drone has uses in areas that humans wouldn’t be able to go, such as a disaster area where it could fly in and walk amongst the rubble to investigate, according to the report.

Also, the drone would be able to land and then reorient itself before taking off again, something that most other drones wouldn’t be able to do. Rotary-winged aircraft can accomplish this feat, but they can’t cover the long distances that a winged robot can.

The drone was designed with durability in mind. The video below shows a researcher banging on the shell of the robot with a hammer without breaking it.

Engineers hope to further develop DALER by giving it the ability to hover as well as take off autonomously from the ground.

The robot was constructed by scientists at the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Robotics division in Switzerland. They were inspired by the movements of the vampire bat, which use the tips of their wings to vault themselves forward while on the ground. DALER uses triangular wingerons at the end of the wings to rotate once it is on the ground, according to a Gizmodo report.

The drone has a flexible skin and a relatively simple motor that allows the DALER to have retractable wings.

Be social, please share!

Facebooktwittergoogle_plusredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *