Spider-Like Drone Will Shoot Webs for Stabilization

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

One of the challenges drone developers face is the flight time: the ability to stay in the air for long enough to be useful, especially important in places too dangerous for humans to go, where drones offer the best way to gather data.

That’s where the ability to perch comes in. Added capabilities that allow drones to ‘perch’ in a single location without expending too much energy can make all the difference.

At Imperial College London, researchers have been working on a unique way to keep a drone in the air. This is SpiderMAV, a spider-inspired drone that essentially builds its own web to remain stable in mid-air. The drone, a modified DJI Matrice 100, is able to shoot out a synthetic material that attaches to nearby walls.

According to dronelife.com, the development is being undertaken at the College’s Aerial Robotics Labs. The drone can be fitted with two different modules, one for perching or one for stabilization. The perching module uses a magnetic anchor launcher and a spooling system packed with polystyrene thread.

Once SpiderMAV has found a magnetic surface it wants to perch beneath, the launcher uses compressed gas to fire the anchor, which trails the thread behind it. SpiderMAV is able to reel in the thread to keep it taut, and can then slow or shut off its motors to save power while hanging from the ceiling.

One of the obvious applications of this technology is underground, where visibility and the conditions make it difficult for humans to work.

The lab’s director, Dr Mirko Kovac, said: “One core application area is in deep mines, where we can imagine having drones operating in mines doing mapping tasks, sampling tasks and also looking at where the precious metals are. That is to inform decisions on where to mine, how to mine and how to do that more effectively, more cost-effectively… more sustainable as well.”

He suggested that the team is working on new ways to fix the drone to surrounding structures so that it’s as versatile as a spider, not just inspired by one.

“The string material is one very important aspect of that and for now we use silk material to do that,”he said. “Now in the long run, we’ll look at new advanced new materials that could potentially also be deployed by the robot in different ways to allow perching and attach them where we want, [as well as] different adhesion methods and different ways in which we can stick to surfaces.”