A 2024 Nature Communications study combined maple-samara aerodynamics with azobenzene-crosslinked liquid-crystal-network (azo-LCN) films to remotely tune gliding behavior with light.
A 33.1-mg artificial samara
The artificial seed combined an azo-LCN wing, a natural seed root and a mass-balancing strip. It weighed 33.1 mg versus 34 mg for the natural samara used in the study. Natural and artificial seeds both autorotated; terminal velocities were 72.1 and 98.4 cm/s, respectively.
Light switches a bistable wing shape
Azobenzene photochemistry reversibly changes the LCN wing curvature. This altered terminal velocity, rotation rate and circling behavior, allowing the researchers to shift landing-point distributions in indoor and outdoor drops.
This is not GPS-like precision navigation to an arbitrary coordinate. Wind robustness, payload, closed-loop control and swarm deployment remain open engineering problems.
The material platform was also extended to Javan-cucumber-like gliders, parachutes and artificial dandelion seeds.
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Reference
- Yang J et al. Photochemically responsive polymer films enable tunable gliding flights. Nature Communications. 2024;15:4684. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49108-0
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