# Design of the first sub-milligram flapping wing aerial vehicle

## TL;DR

This paper introduces the first sub-milligram flapping wing aerial vehicle that mimics insect wing kinematics, demonstrating significant miniaturization, simplified assembly, and low-voltage operation for potential autonomous deployment.

## Contribution

It presents the design and fabrication of the smallest wing-span flapping vehicle at a sub-milligram scale with simplified assembly and low operational voltage, advancing microrobotic flight technology.

## Key findings

- Achieved wing stroke amplitude of 90° and pitch amplitude of 80°
- Developed the smallest wing-span device at 3.5mm
- Simplified assembly with only 5 components

## Abstract

Here we report the first sub-milligram flapping wing vehicle which is able to mimic insect wing kinematics. Wing stroke amplitude of 90$^\circ$ and wing pitch amplitude of 80$^\circ$ is demonstrated. This is also the smallest wing-span (single wing length of 3.5mm) device reported yet and is at the same mass-scale as a fruit fly. Assembly has been made simple and requires gluing together 5 components in contrast to higher part count and intensive assembly of other milligram-scale microrobots. This increases the fabrication speed and success-rate of the fully fabricated device. Low operational voltages (70mV) makes testing further easy and will enable eventual deployment of autonomous sub-milligram aerial vehicles.