From flying insects to nanodrones

As we all know, nature is a formidable and almost limitless source of inspiration and innovation. Indeed, with a range of animal species offering promising means of locomotion on land, underwater and in the air, research into bio-inspired systems has received a great deal of attention over the last decade. When it comes to insects, we can't help but admire their evolution since the Paleolithic era, their great diversity and their flight performance. Indeed, they demonstrate impressive aerial capabilities: hovering, lightning acceleration, flying backwards, or simply travelling at speeds of up to 60 km · h ^–1 . Their multiplicity opens up a wide range of solutions for designing nanodrones. Among all these families,...