In these terrible days of chemical warfare against humans, a model of flying sensors for detecting toxic gases was developed in the biomimetic research of Professor Daniel Weiss of the Technion, inspired by the way dandelion seeds are spread
By: Maya Givon
In these terrible days of chemical warfare against humans, a model of flying sensors for detecting toxic gases was developed in the biomimetic research of Professor Daniel Weiss of the Technion, inspired by the way dandelion seeds are spread.
Professor Daniel Weiss from the Faculty of Space Engineering and Aeronautics at the Technion, has been using biomimetic thinking for many years. He is as well versed in the biological phenomena of plants and animals as he is in mechanical engineering and mathematics. Among other things, Weiss studied phenomena such as the biomechanical consequences of fish swarming, the stabilization of the head in birds of prey such as herons, kingfishers and falcons - to improve stabilization systems in flight, the movements of crabs in the water when escaping, and more. A development by Weiss and a team of researchers from the Technion, based on the distribution method of dandelion seeds, was adopted and developed by Raphael: a tiny vehicle, without an engine, that can be controlled remotely.
Who doesn't know the white bloom of dandelion seeds? A dandelion flower, or "medical tooth" (Taraxacum officinale, Dandelion) creates thousands of seeds, each 5-6 millimeters long and equipped with a "parachute" made of thin capillary fibers, which contain air between them. The thickness of each fiber is about a third of a micron, (a micron is a millionth of a meter) - thinner than a human hair. When many seeds are together on the plant, before being dispersed by the wind, they are organized into a silver-white inflorescence, (which is affectionately called "grandfather").
To test the unmanned aerial vehicle, an experimental model was prepared, 50 times larger than the imitation object. Thin plastic fibers replaced the original seed fibers. In the following steps, the fibers were replaced with stronger titanium fibers, weighing a tenth of a milligram each. The results showed that it is possible to build an unmanned aircraft of nanometer size, which can reach a height of about one hundred meters without using an engine.
The nanometer craft can have various uses. One of the uses proposed by Prof. Weiss is for the detection of gas clouds, in battle scenes and in the fight against terrorism, for example, or after accidents involving volatile chemical substances. The aircraft will be dispersed into the undetected gas cloud from a grenade rifle cartridge. When the aircraft comes into contact with the gas particles, the chemical indicators on it will change color, and a colored cloud will be formed that will help in remote identification of the contaminated area. Thanks to their tiny weight, the aircraft will be carried in the air with the movement of the wind and with the gas cloud, and will continue to mark the danger zone. The next step, according to Weiss, is to equip these tiny aircraft with an engine, and allow them the ability to control self-propulsion, in other words, beyond the insect-based model.
Published by www.biomimicry.org.il
