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Flexible robots have advantages over rigid robots in their ability to conform physically to their environment and to form a wide variety of shapes. Sensing the force applied by or to flexible robots is useful for both navigation and…
Flying robots are usually rather delicate and require protective enclosures when facing the risk of collision, while high complexity and reduced payload are recurrent problems with collision-resilient flying robots. Inspired by arthropods'…
Autonomous nano-drones, powered by vision-based tiny machine learning (TinyML) models, are a novel technology gaining momentum thanks to their broad applicability and pushing scientific advancement on resource-limited embedded systems.…
Sensorized insoles provide a tool for gait studies and health monitoring during daily life. For users to accept such insoles they need to be comfortable and lightweight. Previous work has already demonstrated that estimation of ground…
Autonomous collision avoidance requires accurate environmental perception; however, flight systems often possess limited sensing capabilities with field-of-view (FOV) restrictions. To navigate this challenge, we present a safety-aware…
The development of automatic perception systems and techniques for bio-inspired flapping-wing robots is severely hampered by the high technical complexity of these platforms and the installation of onboard sensors and electronics. Besides,…
Wings of flying animals can not only generate lift and control torques but also can sense their surroundings. Such dual functions of sensing and actuation coupled in one element are particularly useful for small sized bio-inspired robotic…
Animal vocalisations serve a wide range of vital functions. Although it is possible to record animal vocalisations with external microphones, more insights are gained from miniature sensors mounted directly on animals' backs. We present…
We introduce a benchmark for system identification based on 75k real-world samples from the Crazyflie 2.1 Brushless nano-quadrotor, a sub-50g aerial vehicle widely adopted in robotics research. The platform presents a challenging testbed…
Since the MICROSCOPE instrument aims to measure accelerations as low as a few 10$^{-15}$\,m\,s$^{-2}$ and cannot operate on ground, it was obvious to have a large time dedicated to its characterization in flight. After its release and first…
Animals such as insects have provided a rich source of inspiration for designing robots. For example, animals navigate to goals via efficient coordination of individual motor actions, and demonstrate natural solutions to problems also faced…
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…
We present the design of an insect-sized jumping microrobot measuring 17mm$\times$6mm$\times$14mm and weighing 75 milligrams. The microrobot consumes 6.4mW of power to jump up by 8mm in height. The tethered version of the robot can jump 6…
State estimation and control is a well-studied problem in conventional aerial vehicles such as multi-rotors. But multi-rotors, while versatile, are not suitable for all applications. Due to turbulent airflow from ground effects,…
Nano-drones, with their small, lightweight design, are ideal for confined-space rescue missions and inherently safe for human interaction. However, their limited payload restricts the critical sensing needed for ego-velocity estimation and…
Flying insects are capable of vision-based navigation in cluttered environments, reliably avoiding obstacles through fast and agile maneuvers, while being very efficient in the processing of visual stimuli. Meanwhile, autonomous micro air…
This paper describes the process and challenges behind the design and development of a micro-gravity enabling aerial robot. The vehicle, designed to provide at minimum 4 seconds of micro-gravity at an accuracy of .001 g's, is designed with…
Insects and hummingbirds exhibit extraordinary flight capabilities and can simultaneously master seemingly conflicting goals: stable hovering and aggressive maneuvering, unmatched by small scale man-made vehicles. Flapping Wing Micro Air…
Drones are becoming more and more popular nowadays. They are small in size, low in cost, and reliable in operation. They contain a variety of sensors and can perform a variety of flight tasks, reaching places that are difficult or…
We introduce FalconWing, an ultra-light (150 g) indoor fixed-wing UAV platform for vision-based autonomy. Controlled indoor environment enables year-round repeatable UAV experiment but imposes strict weight and maneuverability limits on the…