Nature‐Inspired Metastructure Design for Next‐Generation Lightweight Aerial Robots

Aerial robots operate in complex three‐dimensional environments, demonstrating high agility and maneuverability. Because aerial robots must continuously overcome gravitational and aerodynamic resistance, lightweight design is critical to flight efficiency, endurance, and adaptability. As next‐generation aerial robots evolve toward intelligence, miniaturization, and swarm operation, lightweight design faces increasing challenges in balancing low density, high mechanical performance, and multifunctional integration. To ensure survival and efficiency, biological organisms have evolved structural strategies that combine low mass, mechanical robustness, and functional integration, offering valuable inspiration for metastructure‐based lightweight design in aerial robots. In this Review, we propose a nature‐inspired metastructure design paradigm for next‐generation aerial robots to enable sustainable systems with exceptional mechanical performance and multifunctional integration. We investigate natural metastructure prototypes through the lens of adaptive evolution, providing a biomimicry blueprint for sustainable aerial systems. We also provide a systematic overview of emerging applications of nature‐inspired metastructures across frame, actuation, sensing, power, and system‐level design. Finally, we outline the remaining fundamental and technical challenges and identify future research directions and potential applications for sustainable aerial robots.