Qin Kecheng, Tang Wei, Guo Xinyu, Xu Huxiu, Zhong Yiding, Wang Yonghao, Sheng Qincheng, Yang Huayong, Zou Jun
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
Natl Sci Rev. 2025 Feb 17;12(6):nwaf049. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwaf049. eCollection 2025 Jun.
The functions of drones that are implemented by existing design paradigms are usually fixed and do not have the possibility of further 'differentiation'. Inspired by the biological concept of pluripotency, here we report a pluripotent drone that can further 'differentiate' into a series of drones with different functions to perform a variety of challenging tasks. To realize this concept, we propose a method of reprogrammable dynamic soft self-healing chemical growth (R-growth), by which the pluripotent drone can grow specific 'organs' to achieve corresponding functions, and after completing the corresponding tasks, these 'organs' can be retracted. Furthermore, these 'organs' are able to respond to possible damage through rapid self-healing (∼3.2 s, >1000 times faster than the self-healing of existing similar membranes). R-growth is large-scale (>1.5 m), fast (0.15 m/s), lightweight (∼5 g, 1/20 the weight of traditional micro air pumps), self-contained and free-wheeling. This method can be applied to various existing drones to significantly extend their functions and to enable an unprecedented range of tasks. This work realizes the growth, retraction, and switching of drone 'organs' with any function, while such ability of macro robots or humans, to date, only exists in science fiction movies.
现有设计范式所实现的无人机功能通常是固定的，没有进一步“分化”的可能性。受多能性这一生物学概念的启发，我们在此报告一种多能无人机，它可以进一步“分化”为一系列具有不同功能的无人机，以执行各种具有挑战性的任务。为实现这一概念，我们提出了一种可重新编程的动态软自修复化学生长（R-生长）方法，通过该方法，多能无人机可以生长出特定的“器官”以实现相应功能，并且在完成相应任务后，这些“器官”可以缩回。此外，这些“器官”能够通过快速自我修复（约3.2秒，比现有类似膜的自我修复快1000倍以上）来应对可能的损伤。R-生长规模大（>1.5米）、速度快（0.15米/秒）、重量轻（约5克，为传统微型气泵重量的1/20）、自给自足且自由飞行。该方法可应用于各种现有的无人机，以显著扩展其功能，并实现前所未有的一系列任务。这项工作实现了具有任何功能的无人机“器官”的生长、缩回和切换，而宏观机器人或人类的这种能力，迄今为止，仅存在于科幻电影中。
