Researchers develop winged robot ornithopter that can land like a bird

Amazing stuff! When will ornirobots sing like a bird? Stay tuned! 😋

"A bird landing on a branch makes the maneuver look like the easiest thing in the world, but in fact, the act of perching involves an extremely delicate balance of timing, high-impact forces, speed, and precision. It’s a move so complex that no flapping-wing robot (ornithopter) has been able to master it, until now. ..."

From the abstract:

"Flapping wings produce lift and thrust in bio-inspired aerial robots, leading to quiet, safe and efficient flight. However, to extend their application scope, these robots must perch and land, a feat widely demonstrated by birds. Despite recent progress, flapping-wing vehicles, or ornithopters, are to this day unable to stop their flight. In this paper, we present a process to autonomously land an ornithopter on a branch. This method describes the joint operation of a pitch-yaw-altitude flapping flight controller, an optical close-range correction system and a bistable claw appendage design that can grasp a branch within 25 milliseconds and re-open. We validate this method with a 700 g robot and demonstrate the first autonomous perching flight of a flapping-wing robot on a branch, a result replicated with a second robot. This work paves the way towards the application of flapping-wing robots for long-range missions, bird observation, manipulation, and outdoor flight."

Researchers develop winged robot that can land like a bird - EPFL Researchers at EPFL and the University of Seville have developed a method that allows a flapping-wing robot to land autonomously on a horizontal perch using a claw-like mechanism. The innovation could significantly expand the scope of robot-assisted tasks.

How ornithopters can perch autonomously on a branch (open access)

Credits: Marktechpost AI Newsletter

Fig. 1: Overview and demonstration of the perching method