Researchers at Beihang University in China are developing an impressive underwater drone capable of instantly leaving the water and taking off. The drone, which looks like it came straight out of a sci-fi spy movie, doesn’t need any adaptation to go underwater and start working in the air. The researchers note that they were inspired to create the device by Remora (Sucker Fish).

The drone is being developed at the Biomechanics and Robotics Laboratory of Beihang University. The new drone, as yet unnamed, is capable of flying missions in the air and underwater without the need for attachments, the researchers said. something impressive and You can see the drone in action in the video above..

The drone is of course waterproof with foldable propellers that retract at low speeds in the water. One of the secrets behind how the drone works is that the propellers automatically extend when the drone leaves the water and into the air, increasing its thrust and making it float (out of the water) in a matter of seconds. OUR The drone is capable of making seven water/air transitions in just 20 seconds..

Battery life inspired by Remoras

One of the major challenges for underwater drones is autonomy in the water, where the solution is often to use long cables connected to the devices. To solve this problem, researchers are drawing inspiration from the famous remora fish, which attach themselves to larger fish such as sharks and whales and “walk” the oceans with them.

Researchers have developed a remora-like disk capable of sticking to dry, wet, wet, curved surfaces and even moving surfaces underwater. The research team enlisted the help of Li Wen, the researcher responsible for studying how remora suction discs work, to recreate something similar for the drone.

The artificial version of the remora suction cup is made up of four flexible layers combined with a plate compartment that creates multiple suction points that fill with water when immersed, creating connection points with other materials. Due to the flexibility of the material, it is able to connect to many surfaces, even if they are not completely smooth or straight.

In this way, the drone can “hitchhike” like remora to reduce battery consumption underwater and increase the autonomy of the drone. Thus, the chances of the battery stopping the drone underwater (which would be terrible) are greatly reduced. The results of the study were recently published in the journal Science Robotics. From the videos, you can see how the project brings two very interesting ideas for the future of drones: saving battery power underwater and jumping into the air in a few seconds.

Curiosity remains as to whether commercial drones with the same features that the Beihan researchers are studying will appear in the next few years.

…..

Source: Gizmodo