Melanie Anderson was a Ph.D. student of mechanical engineering at the University of Washington when she made the Smellicopter, an autonomous drone that uses a live moth antenna to follow scents and navigate them.
She and her team published their paper in IOP Science, which describes the Smellicopter as: "A bio-hybrid odor-guided autonomous palm-sized air vehicle."
In an interview, she said that one of the advantages of using drones, such as these little robots, is to go to places that humans cannot. These places might be too dangerous, like an unstable structure or a region with hidden explosive devices, according to Drone Life.
Incorporating Nature into Technology
A team led by Anderson developed the Smellicopter that navigates toward smells and can sense and avoid obstacles as it travels in the air. Anderson said that natural sensors have still outdone the human-made odor sensors.
Using a live moth antenna with their Smellicoptger, they were able to get the best of both nature and technology to create a drone with a sensitivity of a biological organism on a robotic platform where humans can control its movements.
In the animal kingdom, moths use their antenna to sense different chemicals present in their surroundings and use it to navigate food sources or potential mates.
Biology professor and study co-author Thomas Daniel said that the moth antenna cells amplify the chemical signals, and they do it efficiently. Their antenna can sense even one scent molecule, which activates many cellular responses, a very efficient specific, and fast mechanism.
Making the Smellicopter
The researchers used the antenna from the Manduca sexta hawkmoth, which they placed in the fridge to prolong the expected time span that the antenna is biologically and chemically active. If not, the antenna can only be used for four hours.
Anderson added wires into either antenna to connect it to an electrical circuit and measure the average signal from the antenna's cells. Then, they compared it to a human-made sensor by exposing it to a floral scent and ethanol. They found that the antenna reacted more quickly than the sensor, and they took less time to recover between puffs of scents.
According to the press release of Washington University, the researchers added the antenna sensor to an open-source hand-held quadcopter drone that is commercially available, which they added some special features. They put two plastic fins on the back to create drag to help the drone constantly oriented upwind.
Assistant mechanical engineering and the study's co-author, Sawyer Fuller, said that this concept is a genius from a robotics perspective. "The classic approach in robotics is to add more sensors, and maybe build a fancy algorithm or use machine learning to estimate wind direction. It turns out, all you need is to add a fin."
Smellicopter needs not the assistance of humans to navigate through the scents, and it can avoid obstacles that make it perfect for exploring indoor or underground spaces like mines or pipes.
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