Cornell Research into Dragonfly Micro-Air Vehicle (MAV)

From houseflies to honeybees, insects inspire us with flight skills just beyond the grasp of our technology. Z. Jane Wang, a professor at Cornell University, is working to close this gap between inspiration and implementation. Wang’s recent work is on dragonflies, and here she has found some peculiarities.

For example, "an airfoil uses aerodynamic lift to carry its weight. But the dragonfly uses a lot of aerodynamic drag to carry its weight. That is weird, because with airplanes you always think about minimizing drag. You never think about using drag."

Implementing a dragonfly MAV is still an elusive goal, hopefully made somewhat nearer by Wang’s research. The research and prior art is summarized in her recent paper, Dissecting Insect Flight. This and more can be found on her group's website, which appropriately enough is dragonfly.tam.cornell.edu.