A Kenyan intelligence officer sends a beetle-shaped robot into a terrorist stronghold. The robot, which looks just like an insect, avoids detection as a surveillance device. It records footage of the terrorists preparing a bomb and sends it to the officer’s phone. Shortly after, an armed drone fires a missile and destroys the building. This scene is from the 2015 spy film “Eye in the Sky.”
A scientist turning such movie scenarios into reality is Professor Hoon-Cheol Park of Konkuk University’s Smart Vehicle Engineering Department. The 62-year-old roboticist, who has studied rhinoceros beetles for 20 years, unveiled a miniature robot mimicking the beetle in the international journal Nature on Aug. 1. Rhinoceros beetles are characterized by the long horn on their heads. In 2020, Park published a paper in Science analyzing flight collision experiments with a rhinoceros beetle robot. His research on beetle robots has now been recognized by both leading scientific journals.
The newly presented rhinoceros beetle robot weighs 18 grams and has a wingspan of 20 cm when fully extended. Its small size and use of centrifugal force and elasticity for flight make it energy-efficient. Park on July 31 showed a high-speed camera video of the beetle’s flight in his Konkuk University lab. Though he is three years from retirement, his enthusiasm for rhinoceros beetles remains as vibrant as that of a young researcher with a fresh Ph.D. “I began researching biomimetic robots in 2004, studying grasshoppers, fish, and ladybugs, but I was particularly captivated by rhinoceros beetles,” he said. “While most insects keep their wings open like dragonflies or butterflies, rhinoceros beetles only unfold their inner wings from under their outer wings when they fly.”
The effectiveness of the beetle’s flight method allows the robot to operate in low-density atmospheres. “Though it’s a small flying robot, it has great potential for military reconnaissance or polar and space exploration,” Park said. The robot avoids damage during collisions by folding its wings and landing with the motor stopped.
Park’s small research office, about 5 pyeong (16.5 square meters), is filled with photos of stag beetles and robots, along with an award from the Ministry of Science and ICT for “Scientist of the Month” in 2021. His lab across the hall is approximately twice the size of his office.
Roboticists must not only understand the anatomical structure of insects like biologists but also replicate their movements with robots. Due to many anatomical aspects of insects being unclear, it requires observing thousands of movements to understand the process of power transmission.
Rhinoceros beetles are nocturnal and do not fly in bright light, so capturing flight footage often required long waits in a darkened lab. Feeling a deep attachment to the videos captured under these challenging conditions, he has preserved all his research footage from the past 20 years.
Developing the KUBeetle robot often meant working with limited funds. Park had to create parts using a 3D printer and install high-speed cameras through ceiling modifications. China utilizes entire building floors for flight robot experiments. “International researchers who visit to collaborate are often shocked by our conditions and leave,” Park joked, adding, “I might have the cheapest research costs per paper in the world.”
Park is conducting further research to utilize the KUBeetle for military reconnaissance and space exploration, suggesting that South Korea may soon possess the advanced robots depicted in films. “Any research requires at least ten years of consistent effort to yield results,” he said. “With three years left until retirement, I plan to continue my research on rhinoceros beetle robots as long as possible.”
