The Times - UK (2022-02-03)

24 Thursday February 3 2022 | the times

News

British scientists have developed a
motorless insect-inspired flying robot
with wings that buzz thanks to a new
type of electric “muscle”.
A prototype has a wing span of 15cm,
making it about the size of a large
dragonfly. Weighing about 5g, it can fly
across a room at 1.6mph.
The team from Bristol University are
already working on much smaller and
faster versions. Ultimately, they hope to
build highly manoeuvrable bluebottle-
size flying machines capable of seeking
survivors in collapsed buildings, polli-
nating crops and monitoring hard-to-
reach infrastructure.
The robot dispenses with the motors,
rotating gears and other complex parts

Electric ‘muscle’ gives robot insect wings

used in drones. Instead, the motion of

the wings is achieved through an elec-

tric “muscle” known as a liquid-ampli-

fied zipping actuator (Laza). It is very

quiet, a feature that may pique the in-

terest of intelligence services and

others interested in eavesdropping.

In a study published in Science Robot-

ics, the researchers show how a pair of

Laza-powered flapping wings can pro-

vide more power than an insect muscle

of the same weight.

“It’s very challenging to beat nature,”

Dr Tim Helps, lead author of the study,

said. “If we can produce more power

than insect muscle it means that

potentially we can have better perform-

ance than an insect — which is super-

exciting.”

The wing — the design of which was

inspired by a firefly — acts like a nega-

tively charged electrode. There are two

positively charged electrodes, above

and below it. A charge of electricity is

fed, in quick succession, to the upper

and then the lower positive electrodes.

The wing is drawn, thanks to electro-

static attractive force, upwards and

then downwards, causing it to flap.

For the prototype, this up-and-down

motion happens 13 times a second, but

speeds of up to 70 times a second have

been achieved.

The “muscle” includes a liquid

dielectric — an insulating substance —

which lies between the wing and the

upper and lower electrodes where they

meet the body. This boosts power, since

without the dielectric the electrical

charge causes sparks to fly between the

electrodes, and the attractive force is

lost and wasted.

The researchers have shown that the

Laza can flap consistently for more

than a million cycles, suggesting that

long-haul flights are possible.

Helps said: “With the Laza we apply

electrostatic forces directly on the

wing, rather than through a complex,

inefficient transmission system. This

leads to better performance and will

unlock a new class of low-cost, light-

weight flapping micro-air vehicles.”

Professor Jonathan Rossiter, a senior

author of the study, added: “Laza is an

important step toward autonomous fly-

ing robots that could be as small as

insects and perform critical tasks such

as plant pollination and finding people

in collapsed buildings.”

Rhys Blakely Science Correspondent How it works

Electric

current

1. A negative electrode acting as a
   wing is sandwiched between two
   positive electrodes


2. Upper
   electrode is
   charged,
   pulling wing up


3. Charge is
   switched to
   lower
   electrode, causing
   wing to flap up to
   70 times a second

+

+

+

+

A breakthrough cancer treatment pre-
vents leukaemia returning for at least
ten years, a study suggests.
The paper, in the journal Nature, re-
ported that two patients who were fol-
lowed for a decade after starting a trial
of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)
T-cell therapy in 2010 are in remission.
Not only did the cancer-fighting cells
stay in their bodies, they evolved and
were killing cancer years later. The
team believe that within ten years it will
be the treatment for all blood cancers.
CAR T-cell therapy involves geneti-
cally modifying the patient’s white
blood cells — T-cells — to trigger an
immune response against cancer cells.
Doug Olsen, then 49, had chronic
lymphocytic leukaemia diagnosed in

1996. Almost half his bone marrow was
      cancerous by 2010. He enrolled in a trial
      of CAR T-cell therapy led by Dr David
      Porter, of the University of Pennsyl-
      vania’s Perelman Centre for Advanced
      Medicine in the US. Ten years later Ol-
      sen has been cured, the team said.
      But Dr Carl June, professor of immu-
      nology and oncology at Pennsylvania
      University, said the therapy worked
      only for blood cancers so adapting it for
      other cancers — which make up 90 per
      cent of the total — was a big challenge.

Treatment ‘can

halt leukaemia

for ten years’

Light fantastic An illuminated 1km trail around the Blue Pool, a disused clay pit in Wareham, Dorset, turns familiar woodland into a fairytale landscape at night

SNAP PHOTOGRAPHY/BNPS

At some point soon, 300 miles above

our heads, an object the size of a wash-

ing machine will meet one the size of a

tea tray. The bigger satellite will orient

itself and the pair will come together.

Then with what, if this wasn’t a

soundless vacuum, would be a clunk,

they will magnetically lock.

If successful, this satellite, made by

the company Astroscale and steered

from mission control in Oxfordshire,

will point the way to what the British

government hopes will be a new, more

responsible, form of space travel: one in

which we don’t just leave our junk to

form a permanent hazard.

Ministers believe it might also even

gain the UK an advantage in the 21st

century’s space race because consensus

is growing that space needs rules.

“We are at the stage where this is like

the road system in 1900 and you had the

odd pioneer driving,” George Freeman,

Tom Whipple Science Editor

Satellite rescue service to

become ‘AA of the skies’

the science minister, said. In the next

decade, at least 10,000 satellites are ex-

pected to go into space.

If past performance is an indicator,

not all of them, when their fuel is ex-

hausted, will come down and burn up in

the atmosphere. Instead, they will

malfunction and drift helplessly, add-

ing to the increasingly crowded skies.

Astroscale’s satellite is an attempt to

be a rescue service, the AA of the sky, to

bring down malfunctioning satellites

and perhaps even refuel others to

extend their life. It is working with

OneWeb, a satellite company part-

owned by the British government.

The prototype satellite, called Elsa-d,

is trying a docking procedure coming in

from a distance. The first attempt failed

but John Auburn, of Astroscale, be-

lieves they have identified the problem.

He said: “We are at risk of losing some

of the services we rely on because some

of the orbits will not be safe... we have

to make it sustainable.”

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