Imagine an elephant-inspired drone writing something up in the sky. That’s just one of the things a new flexible drone arm can do. Its real purpose is to twist, wrap, and grip objects with precision, thus making it ideal for rescue missions or repairs.
Long robotic appendages attached to bodies are no surprise neither to the tech industry, nor to pop culture. Remember Octopus from the Marvel series? The crazy doctor of nuclear physics with four long, mechanical tentacle-like arms?
Well, chances are scientists from the University of Hong Kong (HKU) are nothing like him. However, they did build a powerful, world’s most flexible, shape-shifting arm. Only this time it’s attached to a drone and is inspired by an elephant’s trunk.
Professor Peng Lu and his team have named it the Aerial Elephant Trunk (AET).
“We designed a compact, continuous arm for drones that can operate effectively in tight and unpredictable environments,” said Professor Lu, who led the research team.
AET ditches traditional gripping mechanisms entirely. Instead, its flexible body coils around objects of different shapes and sizes. That increases the level of dexterity and outperforms most of the other drone-based systems.
For example, in tests, the arm successfully navigated through pipelines in the shapes of L, C, and S, demonstrating its potential applications in chemical plants or industrial inspection settings.
“Unlike conventional rigid-link arms, AET’s soft structure allows it to grip large, deformable, or even slippery objects by wrapping around them – much like an elephant would,” the researchers wrote.
This adaptability allows the AET to perform fine-tuned tasks in environments where conventional drone designs would be ineffective.
AET was also able to handle heavy tools, soft objects like pillows, and even full drones weighing over 1 kg. The team also showed that AET can work on its own, planning its movements to do things like "write" in the air or fly through tight spaces without anyone controlling it.
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