The Infona portal uses cookies, i.e. strings of text saved by a browser on the user's device. The portal can access those files and use them to remember the user's data, such as their chosen settings (screen view, interface language, etc.), or their login data. By using the Infona portal the user accepts automatic saving and using this information for portal operation purposes. More information on the subject can be found in the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. By closing this window the user confirms that they have read the information on cookie usage, and they accept the privacy policy and the way cookies are used by the portal. You can change the cookie settings in your browser.
Here we experimentally quantify the effects of wing morphological and inertial parameters on flapping flight performance. Through running at-scale, passive pitching experiments with different wing designs, we compare the relative importance of wing inertia, wing shape, and wing-actuation pairing. We find wing inertia strongly influences the coupling between stroke and pitch dynamics, which directly...
Without sufficient payload capacity to carry necessary electronic components, flying robots at the scale of insects cannot fly autonomously. Using a simple scaling heuristic to determine a few salient vehicle properties, we develop a vehicle design that possesses the requisite payload capacity for the full suite of required components for control autonomy. We construct the vehicle using state-of-the-art...
The Harvard Robobee is a fly-sized aerial vehicle that can perform controlled flight maneuvers. But this robot is unable to control its yaw or heading angle to a desired value. Motivated by this deficiency, we propose a new method to produce yaw-axis rotations. Termed wriggle-steering, it consists of driving body oscillations around its two other rotational axes. Because no torque is applied directly...
Here we present a suite of theoretical, computational, and experimental studies culminating in the first aerial and aquatic capable insect-scale robot. We develop a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to model fluid-wing interaction in air and water. From CFD and a system dynamics analysis we predict that a multi-modal flapping strategy will enable locomotion in both air and water for a...
A flapping-wing micro air vehicle was built that mimics the control strategy utilized by fruit flies which indirectly modulate wing angle of attack to generate yaw torques. This prototype could also generate roll torques by oscillating the wing hinge at the flapping frequency with an appropriate phase. The roll, yaw and pitch torque generation capability was characterized using a custom single-axis...
Transmissions play a vital role in machines by transforming the torque and speed of a motor into a desired output. They are often necessary for operating a motor at peak efficiency or power. The majority of variable transmissions are mechanically complex, large, and expensive, which limits scalability and is often cost prohibitive. As an alternative, we propose an origami-wheel design that is capable...
Experimentally collected flight dynamics data of flapping-wing microrobots reveals several characteristics that cannot be captured by the information gathered from static experiments. For an insect-sized flapping-wing micro air vehicle with air dampers, we show that a physics-based quasi-steady aerodynamic model is able to predict the flight dynamics with reasonable accuracy. The proposed model is...
The split actuator microrobotic bee is the first flight-capable, insect-scale flapping-wing micro air vehicle that uses “split-cycle” constant-period frequency modulation to control body forces and torques. Building this vehicle is an intricate challenge, but by leveraging a maturing fabrication technology for microscale devices, we have developed a solution to tackle the design and fabrication difficulties...
This paper presents measurements of open-loop roll, pitch and yaw torques, and open-loop flight experiments for an insect-sized robotic bee. Torques are generated entirely with flapping wings via an actuation scheme that uses a single, central power actuator and two smaller control actuators that fine-tune wing motion. We present an initial 110mg design used for torque measurements and a lighter 83mg...
Keeping our ports and waterways safe from threats has become increasingly relevant. Hull and harbor infrastructure inspections are not performed regularly as they are time consuming, require careful planning and involve a huge amount of risk as well as human and monetary resources. An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV)-based approach will speed up operations and help locate and identify possible...
Set the date range to filter the displayed results. You can set a starting date, ending date or both. You can enter the dates manually or choose them from the calendar.