---
title: "This Bizarre Drone Splits Into Five Mini-Drones Mid-Air"
description: "Watch as a glider-style drone composed of five mini-drones inspired by tiny seed pods bursts apart in mid-air to deliver its payloads."
date: "2019-07-09"
modified: "2019-07-09"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/bizarre-drone-splits-five-mini-drones-mid-air"
categories:
  - "Drones"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "bio-inspired"
  - "drone"
  - "emergency response"
  - "mini drone"
  - "the digest"
---

# This Bizarre Drone Splits Into Five Mini-Drones Mid-Air

![Watch as a glider-style drone composed of five mini-drones inspired by tiny seed pods bursts apart in mid-air to deliver its payloads.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/bizarre-drone-splits-five-mini-drones-mid-air.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Singapore University of Technology and Design\</em\>*

## Plant the Seed

Samaras are tiny seed pods with a wing-like shape on one side that causes them to spin as they float to the ground from the branches of tree. As a child you might have tossed them into the air yourself, watching as the "whirlybirds" spun out in different directions.

Now, a team of researchers has created a drone comprising five [samara-like mini-drones](<https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/watch-this-drone-explode-into-maple-seed-microdrones-in-midair>) — and they believe it could one day disperse sensors or emergency medical supplies the same way samaras scatter maple seeds.

https://youtu.be/B74ovD-iJCU

## Super Drones

In a new [paper](<https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/8744585>) published in the journal *IEEE Robotics and Automation Letters*, researchers from the Singapore University of Technology and Design describe how they created tiny robotic samaras, giving each an actuated flap for a bit of extra navigational control.

They then pulled a Voltron, combining five of the mini-drones into one bigger, ceiling fan-shaped drone that's even easier to control.

## Going Down

In a video, the team demonstrates how it could drop one of these bigger drones from above, guiding its descent until it gets closer to the ground. At that point, the researchers could trigger the drone to break into its five [mini-drones](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-army-pocket-sized-black-hornet-drones>), with each heading off in its own direction.

According to the paper, the team believes these samara-inspired devices could one day accurately deliver payloads for military, research, or humanitarian missions from high above their destinations.

**READ MORE:** [Watch This Drone Explode Into Maple Seed Microdrones in Midair](<https://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/drones/watch-this-drone-explode-into-maple-seed-microdrones-in-midair>) \[*IEEE Spectrum*\]

**More on drones:** *[US Army Announces First Deployment of Its Pocket-Sized Drones](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/us-army-pocket-sized-black-hornet-drones>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)