FireFly: An Insect-Scale Aerial Robot Powered by Electroluminescent Soft Artificial Muscles

Light production in natural fireflies represents an effective and unique method for communication and mating. Inspired by bioluminescence, we develop a 650 mg aerial robot powered by four electroluminescent (EL) dielectric elastomer actuators (DEAs) that have distinct colors and patterns. To enable simultaneous actuation and light emission, we embed EL particles in a DEA that has highly transparent electrodes. During robot flight, a strong ( $>$ 40 V/ $\mu$ m) and high frequency (400 Hz) electric field is generated within the DEA, exciting the EL particles to emit light. Compared to a regular DEA, our new design and fabrication methods require small additional weight (2.4%) and actuation power (3.2%) without adversely impacting the DEA’s output power or lifetime. We further develop a position and attitude tracking method using vision-based color detection. We demonstrate a series of closed-loop flights and compare camera-tracked results with that of the state-of-the-art Vicon motion tracking system. The root-mean-square (rms) position and attitude errors are 2.55 mm and 2.60 $^\circ$ , respectively. This work illustrates a novel and effective design for communication and motion tracking in extreme payload-constrained microscale aerial systems, and it further shows the potential of achieving coordinated swarm flights without using well-calibrated in door tracking systems.