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Researchers build a solar-powered hovering drone that weighs only 9 mg

Bizarre design uses a solar-powered motor that's optimized for weight.

The drone, which is shaped like no aerial vehicle you've ever seen before, combines solar cells, a voltage converter, and an electrostatic motor to drive a helicopter-like propeller—with all components having been optimized for a balance of efficiency and light weight. The solar power cells were made of a thin film of gallium arsenide, which is far more expensive than other photovoltaic materials, but offers a higher efficiency (30 percent conversion compared to numbers that are typically in the mid-20s). The researchers provide a long list of things they could do to optimize the design, including increasing the motor's torque and propeller's lift, placing the solar cells on structural components, and boosting the efficiency of the voltage converter.

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