2 days ago
This small robot can fly thanks to jet engines, and may one day help in emergencies or dangerous work
The robots are here and now they can fly. At the Italian Institute of Technology, engineers have built iRonCub, a robot shaped like a person (with a baby face, for some reason) that can lift off the ground with jet engines. The robot stands as tall as a child and weighs about 70 kilograms. Its face is blank and simple.
The team started with detailed computer models to design iRonCub. They used a programme called PTC Creo. The design keeps changing as they test the robot in real life. The latest version is called iRonCub MK3. It has a new titanium spine and covers that protect it from heat.
There are four jet engines, two on the arms and two on the back. These engines can lift the robot and keep it in the air. The exhaust from the engines gets very hot, so the team had to make sure the robot would not get damaged.
There are two main versions of iRonCub. Both are based on earlier robots called iCub. The engineers use a digital model to plan and test how the robot should move. This helps them find problems before they try new ideas on the real robot.
Flying is not easy for a robot with arms and legs. The team wrote software to plan how iRonCub should move when it walks or flies. They use Python for planning and C++ for running tests. The robot is controlled by a person who wears a headset and uses special equipment. The control system keeps the robot steady and safe during flight.
To know where it is, iRonCub uses sensors on its body. These sensors tell the robot its position and how it is moving. The team also built a test bench to check how much thrust each engine gives. This helps them adjust the robot for better flight.
The engineers use computer simulations to study how air moves around iRonCub. They also test the robot in a wind tunnel to see how it behaves in real air. This is the first time a humanoid robot has been tested like this.
iRonCub is not just an experiment. The team hopes robots like this will help in disaster zones, dangerous repairs, or inspections. The project shows how robots are changing and becoming more useful in real life, with their usefulness far surpassing their potential dangers.
The research on iRonCub's flight, aerodynamics, and control was published in the journal Nature Communications Engineering and is also available as a preprint on arXiv.
