In nature, many plants have evolved diverse flight mechanisms to disperse seeds by wind and propagate their genetic information. Inspired by the flight mechanism of the dandelion seeds, we demonstrate light-driven dandelion-inspired microfliers based on ultralight and super-sensitive tubular-shaped bimorph soft actuator. Like dandelion seeds in nature, the falling velocity of the as-proposed microflier in air can be facilely controlled by tailoring the degree of deformation of the "pappus" under different light irradiations. Importantly, the resulting microflier is able to achieve a mid-air flight above a light source with a sustained flight time of ~8.9 s and a maximum flight height of ~350 mm thanks to the unique dandelion-like 3D structures. Unexpectedly, the resulting microflier is found to exhibit light-driven upward flight accompanied by autorotating motion, and the rotation mode can be customized in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction by engineering the shape programmability of bimorph soft actuator films. The research disclosed herein can offer new insights into the development of untethered and energy-efficient artificial aerial vehicles that are of paramount significance for many applications from environmental monitoring and wireless communication to future solar sail and robotic spacecraft.
© 2023. The Author(s).