A flying robot with flapping wings that can dart through the air like an insect has been unveiled by scientists. It can hovver, dart left or right and even do a loop the loop or barrel roll. Like a real insect, the wings beat at 17 times per second to provide lift and can speed along at over 15 miles an hour. Developed by Dutch scientists, DelFly Nimble is based on the fruit fly and promises to revolutionise drone design and our understanding of insect flight. The first autonomous, free-flying and agile flapping-wing robot was developed by TU Delft researchers from the Micro Air Vehicle Laboratory (MAVLab), in collaboration with Wageningen University & Research.
