A Study towards a Flapping Robot Maintaining Attitude during Gliding

Abstract

The bio-inspired robot is such a topic that has received growing attention. The ornithopter micro aerial vehicle (MAV) is a challenging topic for bio-inspired robots. This topic combines the research disciplines of Biology, robotics, and aeronautics. Energy efficiency is one of the advantages offered by a flapping robot. Such a flapping robot can glide to perform locomotion to reduce power consumption. We investigated and developed a flapping robot with tail control to maintain the robot's attitude during locomotion/flight, especially gliding. The proposed tail structure mimics an airplane elevator. Lightweight materials and design are considered in this study. The system is designed to allow the robot to have long-range wireless control. The robot can be wirelessly controlled from a base station via a Wi-Fi connection. This study compares a small wing with good stiffness and a large wing with less stiffness. The small wing with good stiffness is better and could generate thrust 1.56 times higher than the large wing. A large wing's leading and trailing edges bending during flapping can be a possible source of induced drag. Gliding performance was also evaluated. The robot could glide up to 8 meters in 2 seconds at 0.9 meters altitude. The developed robot demonstrated an aggressive flight that reached close to 5 m/s. The developed tail mechanism and controller were confirmed that helps the robot maintain its attitude and recover from a stall within a few milliseconds.