It looks so easy when a bird lands on a tree, but it is not as simple as it looks. It would need steady timing, high-impact forces, speed, and precision in order to achieve that aim. The act of a bird landing is so complex that no newly invented bird-like robot has been able to achieve that aim. It is said that robots are one of the most accurate inventions of man, but yet they have not been able to master how to land like a bird.
Raphael Zufferey is a postdoctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems (LIS) and Biorobotics ab (BioRob) in the School of Engineering. Once it can land autonomously, he says, it has the potential to carry out specific tasks, such as collecting biological samples.
The researcher also add the ability for the robot like bird to land on a perch would be more efficient for the ornithopters like many Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) have a little life time of battery. They recharge using solar panel which make them able to work for long range missions. This is a significant step toward deploying flapping-wing robots, which can currently only fly freely, for practical uses.
Improvements Made on This Design
This design comes with increased robot-like power and speed; thereby reducing its weight and speed also. “The problem in landing an ornithopter without commands of its operator would be in need of managing many physical factors that nature has balanced so well. The bird-like robot have to slow down so significantly as it perch while still maintaining its flight. The claw of the robot need to be strong to grasp the perch and to maintain its weight”. Zufferey notes. “That is one reason we went for a claw instead of two. The ornithopter needed to smell its environment and the perch in front of it in relation to its position, speed and trajectory.
The ornithopter is fully equipped with a fully on-board computer and a navigation system and is also upgraded with motion-capture technology, which determines its position. The leg claw was finely calibrated to compensate for the up-and-down oscillations of flight. The robot claw was made to quickly and firmly close in order to support the robot’s weight and absorb the robot’s forward momentum upon impact. Once perched, it stays perched without using any energy.
The flights are carried out indoors in order to have a controlled flight zone with good localization from the motion capture system. In the future, we will increase the robot’s capability and autonomy to perform perching and manipulation tasks outdoors in a more unpredictable environment.
Conclusion
The act of a bird landing is so complex that no newly invented robot has been able to achieve that aim. It would need steady timing, high-impact forces, speed, and precision in order to land on its tiptoes or even just wing tips like a real bird.
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