Vikram Iyer

About

Vikram Iyer is pioneering the frontier of insect-scale robotics, pushing the boundaries of what is possible at sub-gram scales. His research focuses on creating the world’s smallest and lightest autonomous flying and crawling robots, with key contributions in power, actuation, and sensing. He achieved a landmark milestone with the "Liftoff of a 190 mg Laser-Powered Aerial Vehicle," demonstrating the lightest wireless robot to fly (122 citations), and later introduced "MilliMobile," the first battery-free autonomous microrobot capable of harvesting solar and RF power (17 citations). Iyer’s work on "Wireless steerable vision for live insects and insect-scale robots" (101 citations) addresses a critical energy challenge, enabling vision systems that mimic insect biology. He has also developed lightweight avionics for sub-gram fliers and bio-inspired navigation algorithms for palm-sized drones. His achievements include designing a miniaturized flybar for passive stability in sub-gram helicopters. With over 260 citations across his most-cited papers, Iyer’s innovations are laying the groundwork for swarms of tiny, autonomous robots that could revolutionize environmental monitoring, search and rescue, and precision agriculture.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

Top Papers

1. 1
   Liftoff of a 190 mg Laser-Powered Aerial Vehicle: The Lightest Wireless Robot to Fly

   122 citations · 2018
2. 2
   Wireless steerable vision for live insects and insect-scale robots

   101 citations · 2020
3. 3
   MilliMobile: An Autonomous Battery-free Wireless Microrobot

   17 citations · 2023
4. 4
   Towards Sensor Autonomy in Sub-Gram Flying Insect Robots: A Lightweight and Power-Efficient Avionics System

   10 citations · 2022
5. 5
   Bio-inspired source seeking and obstacle avoidance on a palm-sized drone

   10 citations · 2022
6. 6
   Toward Sub-Gram Helicopters: Designing a Miniaturized Flybar for Passive Stability

   3 citations · 2023

Key Collaborators

Contact & Links