Related papers: Rapidly pitching plates in decelerating motion nea…
As platform size is reduced, the flight of aerial robots becomes increasingly energetically expensive. Limitations on payload and endurance of these small robots have prompted researchers to explore the use of bimodal aerial-surface…
Due to aerodynamic instabilities, stabilizing flapping flight requires ever-present fast corrective actions. Here we investigate how flies control body roll angle, their most susceptible degree of freedom. We glue a magnet to each fly,…
Classical descriptions of flapping propulsion near a free surface emphasize the energetic penalties of wave generation, treating the interface primarily as an energy sink. Here, we show that the same deformable boundary can also act as a…
Aerodynamic force generation and mechanical power requirements of a dragonfly (Aeschna juncea) in hovering flight are studied. The method of numerically solving the Navier-Stokes equations in moving overset grids is used. There are two…
Present work deals with the dynamics of vehicles which intentionally operate in the ground proximity. The dynamics in ground effect is influenced by the vehicle orientation with respect to the ground, since the aerodynamic force and moment…
Flying-focus wakefields, which can propagate with a tunable velocity along the optical axis, are promising solutions to electron dephasing in laser-wakefield accelerators. This is accomplished by a combination of spatio-temporal couplings…
Collective locomotion of swimming and flying animals is fascinating in terms of individual-level fluid mechanics and group-level structure and dynamics. Here we bridge and relate these scales through a model of formation flight that views…
Contrary to the stunning feats observed in birds of prey, aerial manipulation and grasping with flying robots still lack versatility and agility. Conventional approaches using rigid manipulators require precise positioning and are subject…
An adjoint-based optimization is applied to study the thrust performance of a pitching-rolling ellipsoidal plate in a uniform stream at Reynolds number 100. To achieve the highest thrust, the optimal kinematics of pitching-rolling motion is…
Collective motion is abundant in nature, producing a vast amount of phenomena which have been studied in recent years, including the landing of flocks of birds. We investigate the collective decision making scenario where a flock of birds…
"Ground effect" refers to the enhanced performance enjoyed by fliers or swimmers operating close to the ground. We derive a number of exact solutions for this phenomenon, thereby elucidating the underlying physical mechanisms involved in…
We examine theoretically the flow interactions and forward flight dynamics of tandem or in-line flapping wings. Two wings are driven vertically with prescribed heaving-and-plunging motions, and the horizontal propulsion speeds and positions…
We investigate the occupancy statistics of birds on a wire and on higher-dimensional substrates. In one dimension, birds land one by one on a wire and rest where they land. Whenever a newly arriving bird lands within a fixed distance of…
We designed and built a three degrees-of-freedom (DOF) flapping wing robot, Flapperoo, to study the aerodynamic benefits of wing folding and twisting. Forces and moments of this physical model are measured in wind tunnel tests over a…
Rigid grippers used in existing aerial manipulators require precise positioning to achieve successful grasps and transmit large contact forces that may destabilize the drone. This limits the speed during grasping and prevents "dynamic…
This paper investigates stability analysis of flapping flight. Due to time-varying aerodynamic forces, such systems do not display fixed points of equilibrium. The problem is therefore approached via a limit cycle analysis based on Floquet…
Bio-inspired methods can provide efficient solutions to perform autonomous landing for Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs). Flying insects such as honeybees perform vertical landings by keeping flow divergence constant. This leads to an exponential…
Flying snakes use a unique method of aerial locomotion: they jump from tree branches, flatten their bodies and undulate through the air to produce a glide. The shape of their body cross-section during the glide plays an important role in…
In this paper, we propose an effective unified control law for accurately tracking agile trajectories for lifting-wing quadcopters with different installation angles, which have the capability of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) as well…
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…