The artificial beetle is possibly the Holy Grail for practitioners of engineered biomimicry. An artificial beetle could gather and relay data and images from compromised environments on earth and other planets to decision makers. It could also be used for surveillance of foes and friends alike, and will require ethical foresight and oversight. What would it take to develop an artificial beetle? Several biotemplating techniques can be harnessed for the replication of external structural features of beetle bodies, and thus preserve functionalities such as coloration of the exoskeleton and the hydrophobicity of wings. The body cavity must host a power supply, motors to move the wings for flight, sensors to capture ambient conditions and images, and data transmitters and receivers to communicate with a remote command center. All of these devices must be very small and reliable.

Date Published: 26 March 2015
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 9429, Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2015, 94290B (26 March 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2083656

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9429:
Bioinspiration, Biomimetics, and Bioreplication 2015
Akhlesh Lakhtakia; Mato Knez; Raúl J. Martín-Palma, Editor(s)