of crickets and grasshoppers …

Hear the little cricket ‘sing’,
using teeth upon its wing
(raised to help acoustically),
‘heard’ by membrane on its knee.

Grasshoppers upon a farm –
most do good or little harm.
Locusts sometimes swarm, then drop
devastating useful crop.

Locusts fly so easily,
– well designed their wings must be.
How come their working's so proficient?
– we want robots this efficient.

Flying studied: wing complexity,
vein arrangement, flexibility
varying shape so drag decreases
– lowered food-needs, range increases.

Engineers want to copy
wings controllable and floppy:
robotic aircraft to search places
dangerous, and tiny spaces.