A new method of flight, in the form of a flying jellyfish robot, has been created.

Some drones may take on a new look soon, not that of the elegant and streamlined Aerosonde currently used for collecting data to be used for discerning weather patterns. Nor will it look like the technical Aeryon Scout which is used for capturing and transmitting images and video.

No, some new generation surveillance drones may just be flying jellyfish robot drones. While many attempts have been made to create small robots that use methods similar to the mechanics of a fruit fly, these techniques have not been successful due to the instability of the flapping wing motion. Enter the flying jellyfish robot. This system is self-stabilizing as it does not require the flapping of any types of wings, nor minor adjustments that helicopters are known to require. Leif Ristroph of New York University can be credited for the development of the flying jellyfish robot, which will be presented at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics meeting on November 24 in Pittsburgh. This conference typically has close to 3000 attendees from across the globe. The objective of this meeting is “to promote the advancement and dissemination of knowledge in all areas of fluid dynamics.” The goal of Leif Ristroph’s flying jellyfish robot is to potentially have the technology used for surveillance, search and rescue missions, and atmospheric monitoring. Currently, the flying jellyfish robot prototype runs off of an external power source and cannot stray very far. Although this prototype has much research and development left to go before it can be used in a practical application, the invention itself is quite the marvel. To see a flying jellyfish robot would be quite a sight indeed.