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Fruit fly scale robots can hover longer with flapping wings than with spinning wings
Elliot W Hawkes1, David Lentink2
1Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA ewhawkes@engineering.ucsb.edu.
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface
|October 7, 2016
Summary
For micro flying robots, spinning wings are best for larger designs, while flapping wings excel at smaller scales. This finding highlights the importance of actuator performance across different robot sizes.
Area of Science:
- Robotics
- Aerodynamics
- Bio-inspired engineering
Background:
- Hovering flies utilize a stable leading-edge vortex for high lift.
- Micro flying robots can mimic this by flapping or spinning wings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To conduct the first holistic analysis comparing hovering duration of flapping versus spinning wings in fly-inspired micro robots.
- To evaluate performance across scales from fruit flies to hummingbirds.
Main Methods:
- Integrated aerodynamic data with data-driven scaling laws for actuators, electronics, and mechanisms.
- Analyzed performance across a range of scales.
Main Results:
- Spinning wings with rotary actuators are superior for hummingbird-scale robots.
- Flapping wings with oscillatory actuators are superior for fruit fly-scale robots.
- Performance crossover is due to reduced rotary actuator efficiency at smaller scales.
Conclusions:
- A systems-level analysis is crucial for optimizing micro flying robot design.
- The choice between flapping and spinning wings depends critically on the robot's scale and actuator performance.
