MIT researchers have developed highly agile robotic insects that could transform artificial pollination, enabling fruit and vegetable farming inside multilevel warehouses. Inspired by real pollinators like bees, these revamped bots can hover for 1,000 seconds—100 times longer than previous versions—and perform acrobatic manoeuvres such as double aerial flips.

The robots, weighing less than a paperclip, feature a new wing design that improves endurance and flight precision. Lead researcher Kevin Chen calls the innovation a major step toward assisted pollination, though robotic insects still lag behind their natural counterparts in control and efficiency.