Tumbleweed Aerodynamics Inspire Hybrid Robots for Harsh Terrains

This is actually pretty cool, with some solid engineering - general idea is to tap the wind when you can, use an embedded quadcopter to steer and lift when you can't. They claim tumbleweed has a porosity gradient from top to bottom which allows it to pick up more wind movement than if it were even porosity everywhere, so the little guys are engineered with a similar bias to help get the most out of wind. I imagine it's .. not great .. if you're headed into the wind.

Paper in Nature Communications: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-66513-1

Looking at the design, could this type of case serve as "armour" for the drone, thus thwarting simple anti-drone measures for both civilian and military drones?

I once wanted to be Bob Munden — the tumbleweed / quick-draw fantasy era.