Spring and Power in Hovering Ornithopters

Abstract

Ornithopters are bird-like flapping-wing robots. Only small ornithopters can hover, with long endurance at hummingbird size. Could larger ornithopters be improved further to hover longer? This paper reviews and examines the drive and power of hovering ornithopters, and elastic means of energy or thrust boosters. While the rotation of flexible wings enhance the thrust generation, two-winged ornithopters did not scale up well because of higher disk loading. In comparison, the X-winged or multiple-V-winged ornithopters enjoy a lower disk loading by beating multiple wings slower, at a smaller stroke angle or a longer span. Further, the clap-and-fling interaction of V and X-wings boosts the thrust generation. Future works can explore the wing flexibility and morphology change to improve the hoverability and flight agility of ornithopters.