Development of a Small Birdlike High-Performance Flying Robot

Abstract

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Recently, Micro Air Vehicle (MAV) has been actively developed. It’s used in various situations, such as exploration of Mars, intelligence gathering at the scene of a terrorist attack. In these situations, MAV needs to be able to keep flying in strong crosswinds and turbulence. These conditions can be seen during flight of flying animals such as birds and insects. Their flight has the characteristics of high maneuverability and robustness for disturbances such as high winds and gusts. The purpose of this study is to research the aerodynamic characteristics of bird’s flapping wing and to develop a small bird-like flying robot depending on a biomimetic approach. We mainly focused on the structure of primary feathers. In the upstroke period, small gap is created between each of primary feathers. This structure allows the birds to reduce drag and get thrust. We designed and manufactured bird-type wings that mimic this structure and compared them with an elliptical wing by aerodynamic force measurement. As a result, the bird-type wings showed good aerodynamic characteristics such as reduced drag and more lift-drag ratio effectively. In addition, we tried to develop a small bird-like flying robot using the birds’ wing structure that can wireless control. Currently, we carry out flight experiments using the robot and develop automatic stable flight control system using barometric pressure sensor and 9-axis sensor.