Page 64 - Atlas of Creation Volume 4

According to Dr. Bomphery, different types of insect wing serve different
purposes. “For instance,” he says, “bees are load-lifters, a predator such as a dra-
gonfly is fast and maneuverable, and creatures like locusts have to range over vast

distances.” Investigating the differences between insect wing structures has been a key
focus in engineering micro flying robots. These ecological differences have led to a va-
riety of wing designs depending on the task needing to be performed. Micro flying ve-
hicles and micro-cameras installed on them will be able to be used in a great many fi-

elds. 29
Despite all the specialists working on the subject and all the technological means at
their disposal, it is thought that insect-sized flying machines will only become a rea-
lity in the next 20 years.

Making a robot that beats its wings is no easy matter. What really defeats scien-
tists is the impossibility of giving that robot the intelligence that makes flight possib-
le. The California University Electrical Engineering Faculty Professor Ron Fearing

says, “The good news is we know what the wings need to do. The bad news is we don't know
how to do it.” 30 Michael Dickinson, a University of California Berkeley Professor of
Biology, states that fruit flies beat their wings 200 times per second and use three
different mechanisms in order to take off. This lets a fruit fly make a U-turn in

the air with just eight wing movements, in as little as 40 milliseconds. 31 Ac-
cording to Dickinson, in order to achieve such a level of control, the insect
robot at Berkeley can make mistakes only three times, and on the fourth
one, it will drop dead. Robert Michelson, the chief engineer at Georgia Tech-

nology Research Institute, states how difficult it is to construct a robot that beats
its wings for balance and control:

“Until we can do things as well as you find them in creation, you have to go to alternate
techniques.” 32

Even though humanity possesses formidable technology, intelligence,
energy, and financial backing, people still cannot imitate the systems
we witness in nature. Marvels of creation that human beings are po-

werless to replicate show Allah’s matchless creative artistry. Insects of
whatever size, large or small, have been able to fly through inspiration
from Allah throughout the 250 to 300 million years of their existence on

Earth up to the present day. Many insect species we see in nature today
even have a flying ability superior to that of birds. The perfection in in-
sects’ wings is one of the proofs of Allah’s immaculate creation.

62 Atlas of Creation Vol. 4