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Dr. Pakpong CHIRARATTANANON and his collaborators at MIT and Harvard University have developed a tiny insect-like drone. The drone is made of a soft actuator that can recover from an in-flight collision and perform a somersault within 0.16s. Besides flying around complex machinery to ensure safety and functionality, the aerial robot could be used to artificially pollinate crops or complete search-and-rescue missions after a natural disaster.

The research has been published on IEEE Transactions on Robotics, titled "Collision Resilient Insect-Scale Soft-Actuated Aerial Robots With High Agility".

Press coverage:
(8 Mar 2021) Meet the new generation of tiny, agile drones [World Economic Forum]
(7 Mar 2021) 多位華人學者聯手打造「高靈敏抗碰撞、彈性飛行」的昆蟲無人機！ [read01]
(6 Mar 2021) MIT researchers develop insect-like drones that can withstand bumps [element 14]