IEEE Spectrum reports that researchers from UC Berkeley are working on a drone that’s physically smaller than a penny, and weights just 67 milligrams (which, according to WolframAlpha, is about the weight of a “typical large sand grain.”) The tiny drone has its own IMU, and uses a set of 4 ion thrusters instead of rotors, which means it doesn’t have any moving parts. As of now, the drone can only fly with a tether, but the researchers claim they see a path towards making the drone fully autonomous while still being able to carry a useful payload. Check out the video of the micro drone below:



Although initial demonstrations of controlled flight will certainly be tethered and in an indoor laboratory setting, we envision the future ionocraft as a fully autonomous robot capable of outdoor flight. The path towards autonomy requires making strides in a number of interdependent categories, including: system development to allow for incorporation of more onboard computation, control, and sensing electronics; further engineering refinement of the EHD actuator to provide increased thrust density and efficiency at a lower operating voltage; and further development of both the simulation environment and the bench-scale flight testing setup to begin development of more robust controllers with high level functionality.

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Source: [H]ardOCP – Researchers are Building a Tiny Drone With No Moving Parts