Is it a bird, an airplane? Not Superman, but a winged drone

An international team of engineers is developing a drone prototype that mimics the acrobatic maneuvers of one of the world’s fastest birds, the speedy, in the latest example of biologically inspired flight.

A research team from Singapore, Australia, China, and Taiwan have designed a 26-gram ornithopter (flapping airplane) that can fly, launch, glide, brake, and dive like a speedy, making them more versatile, safer, and quieter than the existing quadcopter. drones

Weighing the equivalent of two tablespoons of flour, the flapping drone has been optimized to fly in messy environments close to humans, with the ability to glide, float at very low power, and stop quickly at high speeds, avoiding collisions, everything what quadcopters I can not do

Scientific researcher at the National University of Singapore, Dr. Yao-Wei Chin, who led the project published today in Robotic Science, says the team has designed a flapping drone similar in size to a large or fast moth, which can perform some aggressive bird flight maneuvers.

“Unlike common quadcopters that are quite intrusive and not very agile, biologically inspired drones could be used very successfully in a variety of settings,” says Dr. Chin.

Surveillance applications are clear, but novel applications include pollinating indoor vertical farms without damaging dense vegetation, unlike rotary propeller quadcopters whose blades are at risk of shredding crops.

Due to its stability in high winds, the ornithopter drone could also be used to scare away birds from airports, reducing the risk of them being absorbed by jet engines.

Aerospace engineer at the University of South Australia (UniSA), Professor Javaan Chahl, says copying the design of birds, such as swifts, is just one strategy to improve the flight performance of flapping drones.

“There are existing ornithopters that can fly forward and backward, as well as circulate and glide, but so far, they have not been able to float or scale. We have overcome these problems with our prototype, achieving the same thrust generated by a propeller,” says the Dr. Chahl.

“The triple wing flapping roles for propulsion, lift, and drag allow us to replicate the flight patterns of aggressive birds through simple tail control. Essentially, the ornithopter drone is a combination of paragliding, aircraft, and helicopter.”

No commercialized ornithopters are currently used for surveillance, but this could change with the latest advance, the researchers say.

By improving the design so that ornithopters can now produce enough thrust to float and carry a camera and accompanying electronic devices, the drone’s flapping could be used for crowd and traffic monitoring, information gathering, and forest surveying. and wildlife.

“The light weight and slowly flapping wings of the ornithopter pose less danger to the public than quadcopter drones in the event of a crash and, given enough thrust and power banks, it could be modified to carry different loads depending on what is required ” Chin says.

An area that requires further investigation is how birds will react to a mechanical flying object that resembles its size and shape. Small domesticated birds are easily frightened by drones, but large flocks and much larger birds have been known to attack ornithopters.

And while the bio-inspired breakthrough is impressive, we are a long way from replicating biological flight, says Dr. Chin.

“Although ornithopters are closest to biological flight with their flapping propulsion, birds and insects have multiple sets of muscles that allow them to fly incredibly fast, fold their wings, twist, open feather slots and save energy.

“The agility of their wings allows them to rotate their bodies in midair while still flapping at different speeds and angles.”

“Common rapids can navigate at a maximum speed of 31 meters per second, equivalent to 112 kilometers per hour or 90 miles per hour.

“At most, I would say we are replicating 10 percent of the biological flight,” he says.