**Bat-Inspired Robots Could Revolutionize Search and Rescue Missions**
Search and rescue operations are often fraught with dangers and difficulties. Harsh weather conditions, treacherous terrain, smoke, dust, and other hazards make it perilous for human rescuers to navigate disaster zones. Currently, these missions rely heavily on people combing through difficult environments, often putting their own lives at risk in the process. Recognizing the need for safer, more efficient methods, Nitin J. Sanket, a professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), is pioneering a new approach: deploying small, bat-inspired flying robots to assist—or even replace—humans in these critical missions.
**A Vision for Safer Search and Rescue**
Sanket’s fascination with aerial robotics dates back years, particularly with the potential to adapt drone technology to real-world challenges. Reflecting on the dangers that human rescuers face, Sanket explained, “Search and rescue is done on foot. There are a lot of people who go on foot with flashlights in really harsh conditions and put their lives at danger to save others. We thought drones are the answer because they can cover a lot of ground really fast. They can be agile and quick.” This insight set him and his team on a path to develop a robotic alternative that could safely and effectively navigate dangerous search areas.
**Learning from Nature: The Power of Biomimicry**
The journey to creating these innovative robots began during Sanket’s PhD program, when his adviser challenged him to build the smallest possible flying robot. To achieve this, Sanket and his team turned to biology for inspiration. Unlike traditional engineering, nature has developed incredibly efficient solutions for movement and navigation using limited resources. “We had to reimagine what a drone would be at that point, which is go back to biology, because biology does this way better than we can today,” Sanket explained.
Insects and birds, for example, can perform remarkable feats of flight and navigation despite having small brains and relatively poor eyesight. Studying these creatures led Sanket to explore how their natural abilities could inform the design of compact, efficient robots. His early experiments included a prototype for a robotic beehive made up of small drones that could pollinate flowers. Although he realized this particular application was a long shot for now, it opened his eyes to the potential of bio-inspired robotics for more immediate and impactful uses, such as search and rescue.
**Engineering Challenges and Creative Solutions**
Designing a search and rescue robot posed significant challenges. The devices needed to be small, energy-efficient, cost-effective, and equipped with reliable sensors for navigation. Initially, Sanket’s team experimented with the same type of ultrasound sensors found in automatic faucets—chosen for their low power requirements. These sensors use sound waves to detect nearby objects, much like the echolocation bats use to navigate in the dark.
However, the first prototypes encountered a major problem: the tiny robots’ propellers generated a lot of noise