Livescience: A new teeny-tiny robot flies through the air like a jellyfish swims. The jellyfish flier is a strange sight — it looks a little bit like a Chinese lantern that's developed a hankering for the open skies — but its unique design keeps it from tipping over without the use of sensors or external controls.
That talent could make it handy for maneuvering in small spaces, said its inventor Leif Ristroph, a postdoctoral researcher at New York University. "What's cool is you can actually build these flying things yourself," Ristroph told LiveScience. "All the components I used to make this, they cost about $15 and they're available on hobby airplane websites."
Ristroph, whose background is in physics, studied insect flight for his doctorate. Insects are intriguing to physicists and engineers, because of their flying abilities. Contrary to what might be expected, it's harder to engineer something tiny to fly than something big, Ristroph said. ...
