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Nature 412, 688-689 (16 August 2001) | doi:10.1038/35089159
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Aerodynamics: Flight of the robofly
George V. Lauder
Abstract
Qualitative studies of airflow over insect wings have long been possible, thanks to the use of smoke trails. With a new robotic fly, flow and force can be analysed quantitatively, so theories of insect flight can be tested.
The problem of studying how air moves around flying animals has attracted attention from zoologists, aeronautical engineers and computational fluid dynamicists, but has remained generally unresolved. It is terribly difficult to measure patterns of airflow accurately in three dimensions, especially around insect wings, which are typically small and move rapidly in a complex manner.
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