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RoboBee Robot: Exploded Robot
This is a robot. It was designed by Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Kevin Y. Ma and Robert J. Wood and team member: Pakpong Chirarattananon and Sawyer B. Fuller.
This object is not part of the Cooper Hewitt's permanent collection. It was able to spend time at the museum on loan from Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering as part of Tools: Extending Our Reach.
The RoboBee is the world’s first insect-scale flying robot. Weighing 80 milligrams (approximately the weight of a honeybee) with a wingspan of little more than 1 inch (3 cm), the RoboBee was designed by researchers at Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The team wanted to create a robotic bee colony that replicated the unique interactions of thousands of bees, a response to the alarming collapse of bee colonies worldwide in recent years. Facing the challenge of producing minuscule mechanical devices, researchers looked to the process of manufacturing pop-up books. To build individual bees, sheets of laser-cut materials are sandwiched together into a thin, flat plate that folds up like a pop-up book into the complete electromechanical structure. Swarms of RoboBees could not only have the capacity to artificially pollinate crops, but also participate in search-and-rescue missions, act as environmental sensors, or conduct covert surveillance.
This object was
donated by
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
It is credited Gift of Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
- Poster, Eye Bee M (IBM)
- offset lithograph.
- Gift of Marion S. Rand.
- 2002-11-20
- Poster, Levi's 501, The Button Fly
- offset lithograph with rainbow foil stamping on coated wove paper.
- Gift of Stefan Sagmeister.
- 2011-34-2
- J.B. Schmetterling (Butterfly) Hanging Lamp
- glass, plastic, brass, halogen light source.
- Gift of Ingo Maurer GmbH and Graham Owen.
- 2014-7-1-a/c
Our curators have highlighted 2 objects that are related to this one.
- Fragment Of Bed Hanging (France)
- linen.
- Bequest of Richard Cranch Greenleaf in memory of his mother, Adeline Emma....
- 1962-50-69
- Panel And Fragments (India)
- cotton, beetle elytra, foil strips, metallic yarns, sequins.
- Gift of Sarah Cooper Hewitt.
- 1931-25-1-a/d
Its dimensions are
Approx: H x W: 5.1 x 10.2 cm (2 x 4 in.)
Cite this object as
RoboBee Robot: Exploded Robot; Designed by Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Kevin Y. Ma (American, b.1988), Robert J. Wood (American, b. 1977); Team Member: Pakpong Chirarattananon, Sawyer B. Fuller; flight muscles: piezoelectric ceramic, carbon fiber, and alumina ceramic; wings: polyester film membrane stretched over a carbon-fiber composite frame; wing transmission: polyimide-film flexural hinges with carbon-fiber rigid links; body: carbon-fiber an; Approx: H x W: 5.1 x 10.2 cm (2 x 4 in.); Gift of Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; 2015-23-2
This object was previously on display as a part of the exhibition Tools: Extending Our Reach.