Dandelion sensor moves with the wind and is powered by tiny batteries

American scientists have developed lightweight autonomous sensors. They can move with the wind and are charged by

sunlight.The authors of the development are confident that they will be useful in agriculture for monitoring the condition of grown crops. Highly sensitive devices will also be useful to monitor climate change. The lightweight bioinspired design will allow the sensors to independently change location.

Although the battery-free designmakes the platform very light, it is still 30 times heavier than a single milligram dandelion seed. However, the team's experiments have shown that the sensor is still light enough to travel around a football field in moderate wind after being dropped from a drone.

Currently, engineers have 75 sensor design options ready. Photo: Mark Stone/University of Washington

Sensors can measure temperature, light,humidity and pressure, and transmit data from distances of up to 60 m. Scientists already have some ideas on how to improve on the original design, working on biodegradable versions of the devices. Currently, engineers have 75 sensor design options ready. So far they have settled on an umbrella shape.

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