Virtual-work-based optimization design on compliant transmission mechanism for flapping-wing aerial vehicles

This paper presents a method for analyzing and optimizing the design of a compliant transmission mechanism for a flapping-wing aerial vehicle. Its purpose is of minimizing the peak input torque required from a driving motor. In order to maintain the stability of flight, minimizing the peak input torque is necessary. To this purpose, first, a pseudo-rigid-body model was built and a kinematic analysis of the model was carried out. Next, the aerodynamic torque generated by flapping wings was calculated. Then, the input torque required to keep the flight of the vehicle was solved by using the principle of virtual work. The values of the primary attributes at compliant joints (i.e., the torsional stiffness of virtual spring and the initial neutral angular position) were optimized. By comparing to a full rigid-body mechanism, the compliant transmission mechanism with well-optimized parameters can reduce the peak input torque up to 66.0%

Braking and Body Angles Control of an Insect-Computer Hybrid Robot by Electrical Stimulation of Beetle Flight Muscle in Free Flight

While engineers put lots of effort, resources, and time in building insect scale micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) that fly like insects, insects themselves are the real masters of flight. What if we would use living insect as platform for MAV instead? Here, we reported a flight control via electrical stimulation of a flight muscle of an insect-computer hybrid robot, which is the interface of a mountable wireless backpack controller and a living beetle. The beetle uses indirect flight muscles to drive wing flapping and three major direct flight muscles (basalar, subalar and third axilliary (3Ax) muscles) to control the kinematics of the wings for flight maneuver. While turning control was already achieved by stimulating basalar and 3Ax muscles, electrical stimulation of subalar muscles resulted in braking and elevation control in flight. We also demonstrated around 20 degrees of contralateral yaw and roll by stimulating individual subalar muscle. Stimulating both subalar muscles lead to an increase of 20 degrees in pitch and decelerate the flight by 1.5 m/s2 as well as an induce an elevation of 2 m/s2.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, supplemental video: https://youtu.be/P9dxsSf14LY . Cyborg and Bionic Systems 202

Scalability of resonant motor-driven flapping wing propulsion systems

From The Royal Society via Jisc Publications RouterHistory: received 2021-03-16, accepted 2021-08-31, collection 2021-09, pub-electronic 2021-09-22Article version: VoRPublication status: PublishedFunder: Leverhulme Trust; Id: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000275; Grant(s): RPG-2019-366This work aims to develop an integrated conceptual design process to assess the scalability and performance of propulsion systems of resonant motor-driven flapping wing vehicles. The developed process allows designers to explore the interaction between electrical, mechanical and aerodynamic domains in a single transparent design environment. Wings are modelled based on a quasi-steady treatment that evaluates aerodynamics from geometry and kinematic information. System mechanics is modelled as a damped second-order dynamic system operating at resonance with nonlinear aerodynamic damping. Motors are modelled using standard equations that relate operational parameters and AC voltage input. Design scaling laws are developed using available data based on current levels of technology. The design method provides insights into the effects of changing core design variables such as the actuator size, actuator mass fraction and pitching kinematics on the overall design solution. It is shown that system efficiency achieves peak values of 30–36% at motor masses of 0.5–1 g when a constant angle of attack kinematics is employed. While sinusoidal angle of attack kinematics demands more aerodynamic and electric powers compared with the constant angle of attack case, sinusoidal angle of attack kinematics can lead to a maximum difference of around 15% in peak system efficiency

DESIGN AND CONTROL OF A HUMMINGBIRD-SIZE FLAPPING WING MICRO AERIAL VEHICLE

Flying animals with flapping wings may best exemplify the astonishing ability of natural selection on design optimization. They evince extraordinary prowess to control their flight, while demonstrating rich repertoire of agile maneuvers. They remain surprisingly stable during hover and can make sharp turns in a split second. Characterized by high-frequency flapping wing motion, unsteady aerodynamics, and the ability to hover and perform fast maneuvers, insect-like flapping flight presents an extraordinary aerial locomotion strategy perfected at small size scales. Flapping Wing Micro Aerial Vehicles (FWMAVs) hold great promise in bridging the performance gap between engineered flying vehicles and their natural counterparts. They are perfect candidates for potential applications such as fast response robots in search and rescue, environmental friendly agents in precision agriculture, surveillance and intelligence gathering MAVs, and miniature nodes in sensor networks

Biorobotics: Using robots to emulate and investigate agile animal locomotion

The graceful and agile movements of animals are difficult to analyze and emulate because locomotion is the result of a complex interplay of many components: the central and peripheral nervous systems, the musculoskeletal system, and the environment. The goals of biorobotics are to take inspiration from biological principles to design robots that match the agility of animals, and to use robots as scientific tools to investigate animal adaptive behavior. Used as physical models, biorobots contribute to hypothesis testing in fields such as hydrodynamics, biomechanics, neuroscience, and prosthetics. Their use may contribute to the design of prosthetic devices that more closely take human locomotion principles into account

A Method for Estimating Angular Velocity Inspired by Sensing Mechanism of Insect Haltere

학위논문 (석사)-- 서울대학교 대학원 : 공과대학 전기·정보공학부, 2019. 2. 조동일.파리류 곤충에서 발견되는 평형곤은 코리올리 힘을 감지하여 생체의 각속도를 추정하는 기관이다. 평형곤 한 쌍은 서로 유기적으로 연계되어 있기에 두 개만으로 3축 각속도를 감지할 수 있다. 또한, 평형곤은 날개와 기계적으로 연결되어 있어 구동에 별도로 에너지를 소비하지 않는다. 본 논문은 이러한 특징을 갖는 곤충 평형곤의 각속도 센싱 메커니즘을 기반한 생체모사 각속도 추정기법을 제시한다. 평형곤이 코리올리 힘을 감지하기 위해서는 선속도가 필요한데 이를 구현하기 위해 비행로봇의 날개 구동에 사용하는 날갯짓 메커니즘에 기반한 센서 구동 메커니즘을 제작하였다. 제작한 메커니즘의 평형곤 구조물의 끝에 가속도계를 장착하여 측면에 발생하는 로봇의 회전에 의한 코리올리 힘을 측정한다. 측정한 코리올리 힘은 로봇의 각속도에 평형곤 구조물의 선속도가 반송파로서 진폭변조 되어있다. 변조된 신호에서 각속도 검출할 수 있는 동기 검파에 기반한 신호처리 방법에 대해 제시한다. 제안한 방법의 유효성을 평가하기 위하여 P3DX 로봇을 rate table 용도로 사용하여 제자리 회전 실험을 진행하였다. 해당 로봇에 상용 자이로스코프를 함께 장착하여 성능비교를 진행하였다.Haltere is an organ found in Diptera, which detects the Coriolis force and estimates the angular velocity of the body. The pair of haltere is organically connected to each other. Thus, the three-axis angular velocity can be estimated. In addition, the organ does not consume extra energy for operation due to its mechanical connection to the wing. This paper presents a bio-inspired angular velocity estimation technique based on the sensing mechanism of insect haltere. To detect the Coriolis force, the haltere needs a linear velocity. To manufacture the sensor apparatus, flapping wing mechanism for flying robot is introduced. To measure the Coriolis force induced by the rotation of the robot, two accelerometers are attached to each end of the haltere mimetic structure. The measured Coriolis force is amplitude-modulated by the linear velocity of the equilibrium structure as a carrier wave at the angular velocity of the robot. A signal processing method based on coherent detection that can derive angular velocity in the modulated signal. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed methods angular velocity estimation, P3DX robot is used as a rate table for in situ rotation experiment.제 1 장 서 론 제 1 절 연구의 배경 제 2 절 연구의 내용요약 및 논문의 구성 제 2 장 본 론 제 1 절 좌표계 제 1 항 정의 제 2 항 좌표계 변환 제 2 절 곤충 평형곤의 각속도 센싱 메커니즘 제 1 항 곤충 평형곤의 생물학적 특성 제 2 항 곤충 평형곤의 동역학 해석 제 3 항 거동에 따른 평형곤 운동 해석 제 4 항 평형곤을 통한 각속도 추정 방법 제 3 절 센서 구동 메커니즘 및 하드웨어 구현 제 1 항 날갯짓 메커니즘 제 2 항 센서 구동 메커니즘 설계 및 제작 제 3 항 메커니즘 제어 환경 구축 제 4 절 각속도 추정을 위한 신호처리 제 1 항 신호처리 개요 제 2 항 진폭 변조를 이용한 각속도 추정 제 5 절 로봇 회전 실험을 통한 각속도 추정 방법의 유효성 평가 제 1 항 실험 방법 제 2 항 실험 결과 및 분석 제 3 장 결 론 제 1 절 결과 요약 제 2 절 향후 계획 참고문헌 AbstractMaste

Advances in Bio-Inspired Robots

This book covers three major topics, specifically Biomimetic Robot Design, Mechanical System Design from Bio-Inspiration, and Bio-Inspired Analysis on A Mechanical System. The Biomimetic Robot Design part introduces research on flexible jumping robots, snake robots, and small flying robots, while the Mechanical System Design from Bio-Inspiration part introduces Bioinspired Divide-and-Conquer Design Methodology, Modular Cable-Driven Human-Like Robotic Arm andWall-Climbing Robot. Finally, in the Bio-Inspired Analysis on A Mechanical System part, research contents on the control strategy of Surgical Assistant Robot, modeling of Underwater Thruster, and optimization of Humanoid Robot are introduced

Proceedings of the International Micro Air Vehicles Conference and Flight Competition 2017 (IMAV 2017)

The IMAV 2017 conference has been held at ISAE-SUPAERO, Toulouse, France from Sept. 18 to Sept. 21, 2017. More than 250 participants coming from 30 different countries worldwide have presented their latest research activities in the field of drones. 38 papers have been presented during the conference including various topics such as Aerodynamics, Aeroacoustics, Propulsion, Autopilots, Sensors, Communication systems, Mission planning techniques, Artificial Intelligence, Human-machine cooperation as applied to drones