A Review of Propulsion, Power, and Control Architectures for Insect-Scale Flapping-Wing Vehicles

Helbling, E. Farrell; Wood, Robert J.

doi:10.1115/1.4038795

Cited by 86 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…Recent advances in small-scale manufacturing and control have made it possible to build insect-scale robots. Nevertheless, there are still numerous constraints on component technologies, such as scalable high-energy storage, which restrict their functionality and propulsion, power, and control architecture [ 164 , 165 ]. Insect robots have not yet demonstrated characteristics such as the ability to traverse complex and substantially dynamic habitats, rapidly adjust flight speeds and even directions, the robustness to environmental threats, and the ability to travel long distances autonomously instead of their natural counterparts.…”

Section: Improvement In Future Wing Architecture and Miniaturized Drone Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Mosquito Aerodynamics for Imitation as a Small Robot and Flight in a Low-Density Environment

et al. 2021

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In terms of their flight and unusual aerodynamic characteristics, mosquitoes have become a new insect of interest. Despite transmitting the most significant infectious diseases globally, mosquitoes are still among the great flyers. Depending on their size, they typically beat at a high flapping frequency in the range of 600 to 800 Hz. Flapping also lets them conceal their presence, flirt, and help them remain aloft. Their long, slender wings navigate between the most anterior and posterior wing positions through a stroke amplitude about 40 to 45°, way different from their natural counterparts (>120°). Most insects use leading-edge vortex for lift, but mosquitoes have additional aerodynamic characteristics: rotational drag, wake capture reinforcement of the trailing-edge vortex, and added mass effect. A comprehensive look at the use of these three mechanisms needs to be undertaken—the pros and cons of high-frequency, low-stroke angles, operating far beyond the normal kinematic boundary compared to other insects, and the impact on the design improvements of miniature drones and for flight in low-density atmospheres such as Mars. This paper systematically reviews these unique unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of mosquito flight, responding to the potential questions from some of these discoveries as per the existing literature. This paper also reviews state-of-the-art insect-inspired robots that are close in design to mosquitoes. The findings suggest that mosquito-based small robots can be an excellent choice for flight in a low-density environment such as Mars.

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Section: Improvement In Future Wing Architecture and Miniaturized Drone Designsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Study of Mosquito Aerodynamics for Imitation as a Small Robot and Flight in a Low-Density Environment

et al. 2021

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“…Professionals and amateurs alike now have access to a wide range of drone sizes and capabilities for fun and pro t. A number of proposed drone classi cations, Manuscript submi ed to ACM along with multiple examples, can be found in (Hassanalian and Abdelke 2017). We are particularly interested in drones at the lower end of the spectrum, exempli ed by robotic ying insects (Wood 2008), which are now available as open-hardware (Vanhou e et al 2017); see (Helbling and Wood 2017) for a recent review. It is remarkable that such small platforms can be equipped with high end sensors, which enables a multitude of previously unforeseen applications.…”

Section: Next Generation Sensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

On Realistic Target Coverage by Autonomous Drones

Ahmed

Abdelkader

Khan

et al. 2019

ACM Trans. Sen. Netw.

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Low-cost mini-drones with advanced sensing and maneuverability enable a new class of intelligent sensing systems. To achieve the full potential of such drones, it is necessary to develop new enhanced formulations of both common and emerging sensing scenarios.Namely, several fundamental challenges in visual sensing remain unsolved including: 1) Fi ing sizable targets in camera frames; 2) E ective viewpoints matching target poses; 3) Occlusion by elements in the environment, including other targets. In this paper, we introduce Argus: an autonomous system that utilizes drones to incrementally collect target information through a two-tier architecture.To tackle the stated challenges, Argus employs a novel geometric model that captures both target shapes and coverage constraints.Recognizing drones as the scarcest resource, Argus aims to minimize the number of drones required to cover a set of targets. We prove this problem is NP-hard, and even hard to approximate, before deriving a best-possible approximation algorithm along with a competitive sampling heuristic which runs up to 100x faster according to large-scale simulations. To test Argus in action, we demonstrate and analyze its performance on a prototype implementation. Finally, we present a number of extensions to accommodate more application requirements and highlight some open problems.

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“…During the flapping flight, insects apply their muscle forces through the axis close to the leading edge, which creates a moment with respect to the mass centre of the wing, leading to the passive pitching of the wing due to the interaction between the wing and the surrounding airflow (Ennos 1988). Inspired by insect flight, passively pitching flapping wings have been implemented in micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) designs Farrell Helbling & Wood (2018). In order to understand the passive pitching mechanism of flapping wings, various experimental and numerical studies have been conducted (Mazharmanesh et al 2021, Lei & Li 2020.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

CFD solver validations for simulating passively pitching tandem wings in hovering flight

2021

MODSIM2021, 24th International Congress on Modelling and Simulation.

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Wing pitching motion in insect flapping flight has been recognized as a passive phenomenon induced by inertial and aerodynamic forces. Inspired by the insect flight, passively pitching flapping wings have been implemented in micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) designs. The pitching angle of the flapping wings is passively modulated by an elastic hinge using a torsional spring. In order to understand the complex passive pitching mechanisms, various experimental and numerical efforts have been made. However, the passive pitching mechanisms in tandem ipsilateral wings (e.g. dragonfly) remain unclear as the wing-wing interactions are complex. Here, passive pitching of tandem rectangular wings in free hovering condition is numerically simulated using an immersed boundary-lattice Boltzmann method (IB-LBM). Validation of the solver was performed by simulating rectangular flapping plate within prescribed kinematics and a rigid fruit fly wing with passive pitching. Good agreement of results between current computations and published data were observed, suggesting that the present computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver can accurately compute passively pitching flapping wing systems. The high-fidelity and efficiency were also investigated by performing grid convergence studies and comparing the computational time with previously published data. This study provides additional data for benchmarking of CFD solvers in the simulation of passive flapping wings. The benchmark is also extended by simulating passive pitching of tandem dragonfly wings in hovering flight.

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A Review of Propulsion, Power, and Control Architectures for Insect-Scale Flapping-Wing Vehicles

Cited by 86 publications

References 68 publications

Study of Mosquito Aerodynamics for Imitation as a Small Robot and Flight in a Low-Density Environment

Study of Mosquito Aerodynamics for Imitation as a Small Robot and Flight in a Low-Density Environment

On Realistic Target Coverage by Autonomous Drones

CFD solver validations for simulating passively pitching tandem wings in hovering flight

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