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We develop a model in two dimensions to characterise the growth rate of a tracer gradient mixed by a statistically homogeneous flow with rapid temporal variations. % % The model is based on the orientation dynamics of the passive-tracer…
We study the dynamics of a flexible fiber freely moving in a three-dimensional fully-developed turbulent field and present a phenomenological theory to describe the interaction between the fiber elasticity and the turbulent flow. This…
This study proposes a novel multi-objective integer programming model for a collision-free discrete drone path planning problem. Considering the possibility of bypassing obstacles or flying above them, this study aims to minimize the path…
In this work, a set of motion primitives is defined for use in an energy-aware motion planning problem. The motion primitives are defined as sequences of control inputs to a simplified four-DOF dynamics model and are used to replace the…
Flight is a complicated task at small scales in part due to the ubiquitous unsteady air which contains it. Flying organisms deal with these difficulties using active and passive control mechanisms to steer their body motion. Body attitudes…
Protecting and restoring forest ecosystems has become an important conservation issue. Although various robots have been used for field data collection to protect forest ecosystems, the complex terrain and dense canopy make the data…
Transport networks are crucial to the functioning of natural and technological systems. Nature features transport networks that are adaptive over a vast range of parameters, thus providing an impressive level of robustness in supply.…
A study of the dynamical fluctuation property of jets is carried out using Monte Carlo method. The results suggest that, unlike the average properties of the hadronic system inside jets, the anisotropy of dynamical fluctuations in these…
We present a new model for calculating locomotion costs in breath-hold divers. Starting from basic mechanics principles, we calculate the work that the diver must provide through propulsion to counterbalance the action of drag, the buoyant…
We bound the time it takes for a group of birds to reach steady state in a standard flocking model. We prove that (i) within single exponential time fragmentation ceases and each bird settles on a fixed flying direction; (ii) the flocking…
Model-free reinforcement learning (RL) has enabled adaptable and agile quadruped locomotion; however, policies often converge to a single gait, leading to suboptimal performance. Traditionally, Model Predictive Control (MPC) has been…
Hybrid aerial--ground robots offer both traversability and endurance, but stair-like discontinuities create a trade-off: wheels alone often stall at edges, while flight is energy-hungry for small height gains. We propose an energy-aware…
Biological flyers and swimmers navigate in unsteady wake flows using limited sensory abilities and actuation energies. Understanding how vortical structures can be leveraged for energy-efficient navigation in unsteady flows is beneficial in…
We examine some basic physics surrounding regenerative braking and air drag. First, we analyze under what conditions it becomes energetically favorable to use aggressive regenerative braking to reach a lower speed over ``coasting'' where…
The success of surveillance applications involving small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) depends on how long the limited on-board power would persist. To cope with this challenge, alternative renewable sources of lift are sought. One…
A robust energy transfer mechanism is found in nonlinear wave systems, which favours transfers towards modes interacting via non-resonant triads, applicable in meteorology, nonlinear optics and plasma wave turbulence. Transfer efficiency is…
A wind tunnel experiment is shown to examine the reproducibility of generated wind fields in the laboratory utilizing an active grid. A motion protocol of the grid, designed to mimic a measured atmospheric wind speed time series, is…
We analyze a new Monte Carlo method which uses transition matrix in the space of energy. This method gives an efficient reweighting technique. The associated artificial dynamics is a constrained random walk in energy, producing the result…
This book chapter introduces to the problem to which extent search strategies of foraging biological organisms can be identified by statistical data analysis and mathematical modeling. A famous paradigm in this field is the Levy Flight…
Typical drones with multi rotors are generally less maneuverable due to unidirectional thrust, which may be unfavorable to agile flight in very narrow and confined spaces. This paper suggests a new bio-inspired drone that is empowered with…