AteamofengineersatHarvardUniversityhasbeeninspiredbyNaturetocreatethefirstroboticfly.Themechanicalflyhasbecomeaplatformforaseriesofnewhigh-techintegratedsystems.Designedtodowhataflydoesnaturally,thetinymachineisthesizeofafathousefly.Itsminiwingsallowittostayintheairandperformcontrolledflighttasks.

“It’sextremelyimportantforustothinkaboutthisasawholesystemandnotjustthesumofabunchofindividualcomponents(元件),”saidRobertWood,theHarvardengineeringprofessorwhohasbeenworkingontheroboticflyprojectforoveradecade.Afewyearsago,histeamgotthego-aheadtostartpiecingtogetherthecomponents.“Theaddeddifficultywithaprojectlikethisisthatactuallynoneofthosecomponentsareofftheshelfandsowehavetodevelopthemallonourown,”hesaid.

Theyengineeredaseriesofsystemstostartanddrivetheroboticfly.“Theseeminglysimplesystemwhichjustmovesthewingshasanumberofinterdependenciesontheindividualcomponents,eachofwhichindividuallyhastoperformwell,butthenhastobematchedwelltoeverythingit’sconnectedto,”saidWood.Theflightdevicewasbuiltintoasetofpower,computation,sensingandcontrolsystems.Woodsaysthesuccessoftheprojectprovesthattheflyingrobotwiththesetinycomponentscanbebuiltandmanufactured.

Whilethisfirstroboticflyerislinkedtoasmall,off-boardpowersource,thegoaliseventuallytoequipitwithabuilt-inpowersource,sothatitmightsomedayperformdata-gatheringworkatrescuesites,infarmers’fieldsoronthebattlefield.“Basicallyitshouldbeabletotakeoff,landandflyaround,”hesaid.

Woodsaysthedesignoffersanewwaytostudyflightmechanicsandcontrolatinsect-scale.Yet,thepower,sensingandcomputationtechnologiesonboardcouldhavemuchbroaderapplications.“Youcanstartthinkingaboutusingthemtoansweropenscientificquestions,youknow,tostudybiologyinwaysthatwouldbedifficultwiththeanimals,butusingtheserobotsinstead,”hesaid.“Sotherearealotoftechnologiesandopeninterestingscientificquestionsthatarereallywhatdrivesusonadaytodaybasis.”

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小题1:Thedifficultytheteamofengineersmetwithwhilemakingtheroboticflywasthat_____