Honeybees inspire a super-efficient navigation system for drones

TU Delft develops shape-shifting drone modeled on flying squirrels

Researchers at Delft University of Technology have developed two biologically inspired drone systems: a shape-shifting aircraft modeled on flying squirrels and gliding possums and a navigation system based on honeybee behavior. The projects, the SquirrelDrone and Bee-Nav, highlight advances in maneuverability, the university reports.

Honeybees inspire a super-efficient navigation system for drones

Honeybees routinely travel up to 2 miles (3 km) from their hive in search of food before returning home, with remarkable accuracy. Relative to body size, this is comparable to a human traveling hundreds of miles and finding their way back without a map, compass, GPS, or smartphone. Despite possessing brains smaller than a sesame seed, bees accomplish this feat with astonishing efficiency. Now, researchers have adapted those same biological princ…