Suhan Kim
Appearances
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
We are actually trying to make the world's smallest drone. Our robot is the size around like four centimeter by four centimeter. And then the weight is less than a single gram. So using that robot, we can do multiple different things that can't be achieved through commercial drones right now, such as artificial pollination.
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
And actually, we are taking a totally different approach from commercial drones right now. So drones are using electromagnetic motors and propellers. But we are actually getting inspired from nature, starting from creating very small but power-dense artificial muscle. So muscle weighs around 0.1 gram.
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
And then we are attaching flapping wing structures, something we can see from the nature, so that we can flap the wing and then generate the thrust so we can fly and then do some tasks.
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
Technologically, we still have several things left to make it commercialized. So right now our drone is attached to external wires. So external wires are sourcing the power from huge devices externally. So we will have to develop a small battery and small circuits and small sensors, cameras and stuff so that we can make everything on board and then have our robot fly autonomously in the air.
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
So we are really pushing hard to get there. Hopefully within like five years,
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
We are thinking of some tasks that require the robot going into a very clustered area or very narrow area or doing very delicate task process. So the other thing we are thinking of is something like turbine inspection. Think of turbines in the airplane. It's a very complicated structure that the larger drones can't really go in. And then the
Global News Podcast
US air crash: 64 feared dead
The other thing is like if they fail inside the turbine, it will cause huge damage to the airplane. So those things are something that we envision that the small drones can do way much better than the larger drones.