Published in Nature Electronics

Research on “Insect scale flapping robot flying by electromagnetic radio transmission” by Takashi Ozaki et.al., was published in Nature Electronics.

Ultra-lightweight aerial vehicles are useful tools for communication devices, environmental sensing, and surveying in disaster areas. However, the lack of lightweight high-power-density batteries has limited the untethered flight durations of these micro aerial vehicles. In this study, we have developed an insect-scale flapping-wing aerial vehicle that can fly without batteries by wireless power transmission using radiofrequency electromagnetic waves. The total weight of our vehicle is only 1.8g; this is currently the world's lightest RF-powered aircraft, more than 25 times lighter than previous models.

The image of this robot is used on the cover of the November issue of Nature Electronics.
https://www.nature.com/natelectron/

Title：A Wireless Radiofrequency-powered Insect-scale Flapping-wing Aerial Vehicle
Authors：Takashi Ozaki, Norikazu Ota, Tomohiko Jinbo and Kanae Hamaguchi
Journal Name：Nature Electronics
Published：26 November 2021
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00669-8