Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • News & Views
  • Published:

Biomimetics

Flying like a fly

When biologists unravelled the principles of insect flight, they inspired a generation of engineers to build on their aerodynamic feats. Thanks to a revolution in micro-manufacturing techniques, the first robotic fly now flies.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Winged victories.

A, JAAP OLDENKAMP; B, JAMIE CHUNG; C, KEVIN MA & PAKPONG CHIRARATTANANON

Notes

  1. *This News & Views article was published online on 12 June 2013.

References

  1. Ma, K. Y., Chirarattananon, P., Fuller, S. B. & Wood, R. J. Science 340, 603–607 (2013).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Ellington, C. P., van den Berg, C., Willmott, A. P. & Thomas, A. L. R. Nature 384, 626–630 (1996).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Dickinson, M. H., Lehmann, F. O. & Sane, S. P. Science 284, 1954–1960 (1999).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Fearing, R. S. et al. in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Robotics Automation 1509–1516 (2000).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Flynn, A. M. in Proc. IEEE Micro Robots and Teleoperators Workshop 221–225 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Zdunich, P. et al. J. Aircraft 44, 1701–1711 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Lentink, D., Jongerius, S. R. & Bradshaw, N. L. in Flying Insects and Robots (eds D. Floreano et al.) 185–205 (Springer, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Keennon, M., Klingebiel, K., Won, H. & Andriukov, A. in 50th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting 0588, 1–24 (2012).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Sreetharan, P., Whitney, J., Strauss, M. & Wood, R. J. Micromech. Microeng. 22, 055027 (2012).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Lentink.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lentink, D. Flying like a fly. Nature 498, 306–307 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12258

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12258

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing